Following on from an ELF Renault Clio Cup victory for Sam Tordoff at Snetterton a fortnight ago, the team’s first of the season, and a double podium for category rookie James Dixon in East Anglia too, yesterday’s Silverstone event saw a welcome return to the podium for Mike Robinson – his third of 2010.
Qualifying as the quickest TCR driver with a best lap of 1m05.497 seconds (90.08mph), just a 10th of a second shy of pole position, Robinson produced an excellent start and ran strongly in impressive company behind series leader Dave Newsham and former double Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett.
Taking second place from Newsham at Becketts, Robinson began to pressurise leader Rivett but on lap seven at Brooklands a dive up the inside by Newsham demoted the TCR man to third. After dropping back from the lead duo around mid-distance, Robinson mounted a fresh charge as the race neared its conclusion and at the chequered flag just 0.5 seconds covered the top three.
Team-mate Dixon, who lined up fifth on the grid, made a decent getaway and although slipping to sixth he looked comfortable. At the exit of Brooklands though, while in the middle of a four or five car scrap, two cars ahead tangled and the net result meant Dixon was forced wide through the gravel trap on the inside of Luffield.
Rejoining in 10th place behind Tordoff, the former single-seater racer sustained some damage to his Clio and also flat-spotted all four tyres on lap two meaning his pace was compromised and he dropped to an eventual finish of 14th position. Even so, he moved into ninth in the standings.
Tordoff, meanwhile, just couldn’t find the form he’s shown throughout the season to date and after qualifying in seventh position he ended round 13 in the same placing. Stuck behind Jake Packun for the entire race, Tordoff wasn’t able to find a way by and the result means he has slipped a single point behind Lee Pattison to third in the championship.
Commenting, Brookes said: “Mike’s been strong all weekend, he likes this circuit and it shows as he’s been really quick – he deserved to be back on the podium. Unfortunately James flat-spotted all four tyres, and he also had some panel damage, so that ruined his race. We’re not sure why Sam isn’t where he should be but we’ll work on a solution for that before tomorrow.”
2010 ELF Renault Clio Cup Standings (after Rd13):Drivers: 3rd Sam Tordoff, 296pts; 4th Mike Robinson, 250pts; 9th James Dixon, 127ptsTeam: 2nd Total Control Racing, 591pts
