Top 7 finish for KC at the final Formula Renault UK round for 2009
Kieren Clark, the Cambridge based dynamic teenage racer, delivered a fine 7th place from his best qualifying position of 9th this season, in the final rounds of the 2009 Formula Renault UK Championship. Starting on the tricky downhill section of the legendary Brands Hatch grid, Kieren made a stunning start, only to find the car in front not getting away at the same rate and a rapid avoiding move prevented a collision. This slowed Kieren’s progress, but he still made up a place to chase Stoneman into the first corner. With only a few tenths separating them, Kieren kept the pressure on until a mistake from the car in front allowed him to move ahead.
“I had a mint start off the line, but Riki (Christodoulou) didn’t and I had to swerve round him at the last minute, which was a bit exciting, but I slotted in behind Dean (Stoneman) and Scott (Jenkins). On lap 5, Dean ran wide coming down Paddock Hill so I was able to squeeze through at Druids. I was catching Scott ahead of me until I made a slight mistake and dropped back towards Dean, with only a few car lengths between the 3 of us, I made sure I kept the gap steady for the rest of the race. I was concentrating so hard on keeping the car smooth but not pushing too hard. The car was superb though, we really have got it well set up here. It’s a shame I didn’t do quite as well in qualifying for the second race, I pushed a bit too hard before the tyres were up to temperature and ran onto the dirty part of the track, so lost some of the grip I should have had, so I’m sure we could have been starting inside the top 10 again.”
As it was, KC missed out on the top 10 start by 0.1s for the second race of the day. Another blinding start saw Kieren make up 2 places into the first corner and was challenging the cars in front, but couldn’t find a way through for the first few laps, until a wild lunge from behind sent him on a 360 degree spin at Druids, rejoining the pack at the rear, to end a disappointing 17th.
“I had another top start and I was trying to make up places on the way down Paddock Hill bend but had to hold my position, I didn’t want to make any silly moves that could have ended my race, but that didn’t stop someone behind punting my off in the middle of Druids. I managed to keep the car out of the gravel, but everyone just streamed past me. After that it was just down to chasing, but I was too far back to make any impact. A bit of a disappointing end to the season, but I know my pace has improved in the later stages of the year, and with the help I’ve had both on and off the track, I think we can look forward to good season next year.”
“I’d like to thank the Apotex Scopio team for doing a great job, and my sponsors Apotex Pharmaceuticals and Taylex Displays for making it all happen. Now we’ve got to sort out a package that will make sure I will be here next year. It would be great to do the Winter Series, as it’s a really good value package, but that depends on finding some additional partners.”
