Renault Aftersales Racing rookie finishes 12th in bruising finale
Renault Aftersales Racing completed the latest round of the ELF Renault Clio Cup at Brands Hatch yesterday with Irish driver Árón Smith finishing 12th in the championship race and experienced team-mate Ed Pead ruing an accident that stopped him from taking the start of the 18-lap encounter.
The championship race had to be started on two different occasions such was the carnage out on the damp track. Pead’s weekend was over less than half a mile after the first start. The 30 year-old got a good start from fifth place on the grid and looked strong in the lead group – until the train of cars arrived at Graham Hill Bend.
With cars nudging each other for position, Pead was tipped sideways by one of his rivals and spun across the path of the oncoming field. It was inevitable that someone would collide with his stricken Ixell, Ixtar, Rapide Bodycare, RAMB, Renaultp@rts, Motrio and Renault Trade Partner-supported car and when the impact came, it ripped off most of the car’s front end.
The incident forced the race to be stopped and with the championship race now running late, organisers ruled that it was in danger of encroaching on the live television slot that had been reserved for the final British Touring Car Championship race that was due to start immediately afterwards. With this in mind, the race was abandoned and the organisers said it would be restarted at the end of the meeting.
Although the Renault Aftersales Racing team could have fixed the damage on Pead’s car, he prohibited from taking the restart of the race later in the afternoon because he didn’t complete the opening lap of the original race.
Therefore, the hopes of the team were firmly places on the shoulders of younger team-mate Árón Smith who lined up in 15th place on the grid for the restarted race.
The 17-year-old made a terrific start and was holding position just inside the top-ten when he got into a tangle with another car at Clearways and the impact knocked the steering on his Renault Insurance-backed car out of line.
With half of the race distance still to be completed and his car now understeering into almost every corner, Smith was under pressure to keep the chasing cars behind him.
But he kept persevering and gave a master class in defensive driving for much of the remaining distance. Sadly, a couple of his rivals did manage to squeeze past in the dying seconds of the race, forcing Smith back down to 12th place at the chequered flag.
“It’s really disappointing to end the race in those circumstances because I was making excellent progress up the leaderboard and felt I could have been comfortably inside the top-ten at the finish,” Smith explained. “But as soon as I felt the steering get knocked off centre, I knew it was going to be tough to hold on and secure the result that I wanted and the team deserved.”
Despite both drivers suffering some misfortune at Brands Hatch, Pead described the mood in the Renault Aftersales Racing team as “very positive” and believes better times are just around the corner.
“We all know that Árón and I are competitive, it’s just that we haven’t had much luck at the last couple of meetings,” he explained. “But we know things will change and we’re going to be going all out to ensure that happens at the next round – the World Series by Renault weekend.”
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Results
1 Paul Rivett (JHR Developments) 18 laps @ 16m 15.33s2 Martin Byford (Z Speed Racing) +5.17s3 Ben Winrow (Total Control Racing) +5.64s4 Philip House (PH Motorsport) +6.62s5 Robert Lawson (JHR Developments) +7.58s6 Jonathan Fildes (Total Control Racing) +8.83s7 Jim Edwards Jr (Kangaroo) +18.98s8 Mark Speller (Full Speed Racing) +20.55s9 Derek Pierce (Robertshaw Racing) +21.05s10 Ant Scragg (Full Speed Racing) +23.70s
12 Árón Smith (Renault Aftersales Racing) +24.63s
For further information about the Renault Clio Cup visit www.renaultsport.co.uk
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