AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK team Total Control Racing made a winning start to the 2011 season at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent this, Saturday, 2nd April, with James Dixon taking a hard earned lights-to-flag victory during round one of the championship.
Qualifying on the front row of the grid, missing out on pole position by the slimmest of margins (a mere 0.021 seconds to be precise), the hometown 21-year-old made an electric start from second to take an immediate lead and he was never headed throughout the 23-lap encounter. Under huge pressure lap after lap, Dixon didn't put a wheel wrong and he eventually managed to eke out a winning margin of almost 0.2 seconds to get the year off to a great start for Wednesbury based TCR.
By winning the race outright, Dixon also sealed the Graduate Cup Class spoils and the victory marked his third on the trot, having also won the final two rounds of the 2010 season.
"It's fantastic to win the first race of the year, we're all absolutely delighted", said TCR team principal Lee Brookes, "James did a fantastic job, he was a bit unfortunate to miss out on pole but his start was spot-on and he drove a really good, calm race."
Aside from Dixon's success on the track, TCR was the focus all day off-track as well with the national motorsport media awaiting the competitive race debut of Nicolas Hamilton - brother, of course, of 2008 FIA Formula One World Champion Lewis. Supported by the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver, and their father Anthony, 19-year-old Nicolas delivered an impressive account of himself in his maiden outing.
Qualifying just 1.2 seconds shy of pole position, he improved his pace relative to his fellow competitors in the race and produced a best lap just a second shy of team-mate Dixon's quickest effort. For Tom Grice and Mark Proctor, the opening day of the 2011 Clio Cup season wasn't as either had hoped with separate incidents putting paid to their respective hopes of a top finish.
Essex teenager Grice, making his debut in cars this year, qualified within just 0.1 seconds of pole position with the fifth fastest time and he looked set for a good run. Running well in the top six, and in the pace-setting bunch during the early laps, Grice took fifth back on the eighth tour and pushed on. Slipping to sixth at Druids Hairpin on lap 11 though, his race then came unstuck following contact into Graham Hill Bend which caused damage to the front of his car and resulted in a fall down the order to an eventual finish of 10th place. Racing returnee Proctor, making his Clio Cup debut, endured a disappointing maiden outing in the category when a fantastic start came to nothing after contact.
Moving up brilliantly from 15th on the grid into the top 10 battle, the 42-year-old received damage to his steering just a couple of corners into the race and was forced to retire in the pits soon after. "We're really disappointed for Mark and Tom as they both deserved a lot more from the race", said Brookes, "Mark didn't get the lap he wanted in qualifying but he made a fantastic start in the race and was very unlucky to get contact. It was the same for Tom, his pace was great but the contact he had ruined it for him. Everyone was very pleased with the progress Nicolas made, he did a very solid job and is getting closer and closer to the others every time he's in the car."
Ritter impresses as Breeze overcomes troubles to take podium...In the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup, which has been revamped for 2011, long standing TCR team-mates Carl Breeze and Joachim Ritter had contrasting fortunes in the two races which took place at Brands Hatch. Problems for Breeze in qualifying with an engine-related issue meant he was only able to manage eighth on the grid for the opening encounter but he produced a typically fantastic drive to carve his way through into a position to fight for the podium. Taking third place on lap four, the 29-year-old closed down the top two - setting the fastest lap in the process of 48.329 seconds (89.28mph) - and finished the race within 0.4 seconds of the runner-up spot.
At the conclusion of round one, it became clear Breeze's car would require a gearbox change and the TCR mechanics did an unbelievable job to make sure he got out on track in time for round two just over a couple of hours later.
It was tight - as the rest of the field entered the second half of the opening lap of the race, the 2010 Vice-Champion was only just emerging from pitlane but he produced a phenomenal performance to eventually finish a stunning seventh. Ritter out-qualified Breeze with the fifth quickest time, an outstanding effort by the 39-year-old from Switzerland to lap only 0.6 seconds shy of pole position. In the first race he had a great battle with Jordan Skinner early on and, in particular, Colin White - the latter just shading the TCR man in the end by three 10ths of a second to push him back to sixth. In round two, Ritter took an improved fifth place finish after another excellent battle with White for the duration of the 27 laps.
During the opening exchanges, the Danish-born racer fought hard with eventual podium finisher George Murrells but as the race wore on White was the main opposition.
Brookes commented: "Joachim did a very good job today and really did show how much he's come on as a driver. He was very quick and raced really well to take a couple of great results, we're sure he's going to be a regular front-runner all season.
"Carl did a mega job in the first race to come through from eighth on the grid to the podium and the boys in the team did a first class job to change his gearbox and get him out just in time for the second race. He had a really tall order in that one but to end up where he did having joined the race so far down really was a fantastic effort. It's certainly been an eventful day for us!" TCR's first track action at Brands Hatch , Sunday, 3rd April, will come with round two of the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK at 14.45 while round three of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup follows immediately after at 15.25.
Live coverage of both races will be screened on Freeview, cable and digital satellite channel ITV4, on ITV4 HD and online at itv.com/touringcars
