Two lucky Renault employees link up with Aftersales Racing squad

Renault Aftersales Racing welcomed two new mechanics at the ninth round of the ELF Renault Clio Cup last weekend when competition winners Oscar Berry (East Bliney Garage) and Andrew Rennells (Motorline Renault) joined the team at Brands Hatch.

Both men won the chance to spend the weekend preparing the Renault Clio 197 racing cars of Ed Pead and Árón Smith after scoring well in the recent Renaultp@rtsP@rts & Play Extra Time incentive.

They joined the Renault Aftersales Racing squad on Saturday morning and helped the team get the Ixell, Ixtar, Rapide Bodycare, RAMB, Renaultp@rts, Motrio, Renault Trade Partner Programme and Renault Insurance-supported cars through timed qualifying, two qualifying races and an eventful championship race on Sunday afternoon.

“It was a fabulous weekend and really gave me an insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes in a racing team,” said Rennells, a member of the parts department at Canterbury-based Motorline Renault. “We helped the guys with some basic set-up work on Ed and Árón’s cars and really felt part of what was going on. It was definitely a weekend that I’ll remember for a long time to come.”

Berry, a paint sprayer at the Dereham-based East Bliney Garage, said he was surprised how much work goes into trying to get as much performance as possible out of the ELF Renault Clio Cup cars.

“The guys in the team are always looking at how they can make the cars go faster and it was really interesting to listen to their discussions with the drivers and to see the decisions they made,” he explained. “We spent the entire weekend with the team and even had breakfast with Ed in the hotel.

“Opportunities like this don’t come up every day and I know I speak for Andrew when I say that I’m extremely grateful to Renault and all the people in the Renault Aftersales Racing team that made it all happen and looked after us so well.”