TOP TWO TCR LOCK-OUT IN TESTING
Total Control Racing’s Alex MacDowall produced a dominant performance during official ELF Renault Clio Cup testing at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire, Thursday, 7th May, to end the day three 10ths of a second clear at the head of the timesheets.
Equally impressive was his inexperienced team-mate Sam Tordoff who stunned the championship front-runners with the second fastest time overall, easily his best performance since graduating to the Clio Cup from karting at the beginning of the year with the Wednesbury-based team.
MacDowall topped the timing screens during two of the four sessions, the 18-year-olds’s best time of 1m 32.302 seconds (82.88mph) coming during the final run and placing him 0.345 seconds ahead of the chasing pack, headed by Tordoff. The latter's quickest time of the day, 1m 32.647 seconds (82.57mph) also came in session four, having earlier been in the top five in both of the morning runs.
Mike Robinson was also right at the sharp end with the fourth fastest lap on combined times, 1m 32.808 seconds (82.42mph), while Alex MacDowall’s father Ray, a seasoned campaigner in saloons and a former Clio Cup racer himself, ran in the two afternoon sessions and produced a best lap of 1m 33.893 seconds (81.47mph).
Team boss Lee Brookes commented: “The Croft test couldn’t really have gone much better for us with Alex on top by a good margin, Sam producing his best ever run in second and Mike doing a good job to end the day in the top four. It was great to have Ray out with us too. We made some good progress and we’re really looking forward to Donington now next weekend.”
Rounds five and six of the 2009 ELF Renault Clio Cup season will take place on 16th/17th May at Donington Park National Circuit in Leicestershire with pre-event testing held on Thursday, 14th May.
Provisional 2009 ELF Renault Clio Cup Standings (after Rd4):Drivers: 3rd Alex MacDowall, 95pts; 8th Mike Robinson, 50pts; 10th Sam Tordoff, 42pts; 16th Jamie Ackers, 12ptsTeam: 2nd Total Control Racing, 159pts
