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Round 2 of the Renault Clio Cup took place at Rockingham Raceway,
a race circuit located near Corby. The Spring weather was good
with sun shine for all three days of the race meeting. Dan took
to the circuit on Friday for testing, and found a frustrating
time with
traffic and red flags halting the proceedings, however the best
was made of the situation and some more valuable set up work was
carried out. This weekend Dan was in Group 1 for Qualifying and
succeeded in setting a time of 1:31:097, good enough for 5th place
on the grid. In the event this helped Dan as he positioned the
car just right and took back the lost places, pushing hard towards
the end of the race he was close to challenging for fourth place,
closing to within 8 tenths of a second.
The race finished with the top five just over 4 seconds apart.
5th place on Saturday gave Dan a 5th row grid position for the
main race on Sunday, sadly with many red flags and delays in earlier
races the field of 36 cars took to the grid 40 minutes late.
Dan did not get the start he really wanted and dropped a couple
of places as the field made it’s way to the 1st real corner,
a left turn hairpin bend. As usual the field closed up tight with
the front-runners all trying to get round together.
The result of a late start meant that the 14 laps were cut to
9 to make way for the BTCC TV schedules. Dan made a good start
and as the field rushed down to the first corner was holding 11th
place, as usual the front runners all wanted to go through this
corner together and the resulting push and shove took place.
By keeping calm Dan was able to take advantage of the situation
and secure 10th place, this enabled him to push hard towards the
mid part of the race and he was shaping up to take Aron Smith
for 9th when he was tapped into a half spin, losing momentum and
two places. More work to do, Dan pressed on and retook his 10th
place from Jim Edwards Jnr and that is how the race finished,
just 9 laps of frenetic activity. Had the race run the full distance
then 9th place would have been Dan’s. We take a very good
feeling away from the weekend, are the highest placed private
team in the championship. A 5th place and a 10th place being very
good results, and Dan is learning more about the car every time
that he races.
Now we look forward to round 3, this takes place in Thruxton in
Hampshire, at the pre-race test there on April 11th Dan felt good
with the car and the set up. He set a best time that placed him
in the top 10 yet again.
Trevor Steggles Marketing Services
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