18 July 2005

CROFT RACE REPORT

With clear skies and high temperatures continuing to grace the TOCA tour we arrived at Croft in optimistic mood following our strong form last time out at Oulton Park. The optimism was not misplaced, as a good test on Friday afternoon was followed by two fourth-place grid slots in qualifying.

Saturday’s race was a cracker, with a good start seeing me in third behind Pead and Jonathan Adam. I also had Tom Onslow Cole breathing down my neck once again looking for a way by. This high-speed train of cars continued to lap until I got slightly out of shape in the very quick Jim Clark Esses; as my momentum was affected Tom nerfed me out of the way as we entered Sunny In and I took to the grass to recover.

Jonathon Adam then suffered some cruel luck when his gearbox cried enough, leaving him sidelined. My pace at this stage was very strong and, setting the fastest lap of the race, I was soon right behind Tom looking for the place back. A slight error from him at the hairpin was all that was needed for me to slip by.

I managed to pull out a small gap to Tom, but Ed Pead had made good his escape for the win. I set my Clio career-best result in second. Setting the fastest lap and getting driver of the day was a great confidence booster while we awaited Sunday’s encounter.

Round 10 of the Clio Cup was held in even hotter conditions than those of the previous day. The first corner saw the same suspects in the mix but with Pead getting it crossed up. As he shot off across the infield grass no-one expected him to arrive back on the circuit before the chicane, seemingly doing about 25mph. I just managed to miss him and was lucky not to have ended my race there and then. My pace through the chicane was good and I managed to pass both Tom and Matt Allison as we headed up to Tower corner. Once I had cleared the first lap I was three seconds down on Jonathan Adam due to the first-corner fracas and he made the race his own with a deserving win while I drove to the limits of my rather worn tyres to record my second runner-up position of the weekend.

To cap off a great weekend, Total Control Racing recorded a historic 1, 2, 3 ,4 finish with Tom and Ben Winrow overcoming Matt Allison on the last lap. The crowd at Croft were out in force and it was great to see such an appreciative audience. The podium ceremony was great fun with Lee Brookes and Ben joining us. Everyone at TCR drove home on Sunday night with some pretty big smiles on there faces, it was fine reward for some hard work.