Ash Hand made an impressively composed car racing debut in the fiercely-contested Renault UK Clio Cup at Brands Hatch, and on a weekend when most of his rivals did very little overtaking at all, the talented young Nuneaton-based speed demon fought his way grittily into the top ten.

Hand travelled to Brands Hatchs 1.2-mile Indy Circuit eager to rev his burgeoning career up a gear off the back of a successful stint in karting both on home turf and abroad. Shrugging off the added pressure of performing in front of a capacity audience on the ITV4 live-televised British Touring Car Championship support bill, the highly-rated Maple Park hotshot was in optimistic moodand keen to demonstrate just what he is capable of.

I felt fairly strong going into the weekend, he affirmed. My only concern was not having been round Brands Hatch in the dryso that was a new challengebut its a really fun track to drive. Unfortunately, practice on Friday was not a good start; I was consistently giving away four tenths of a second through Surtees and another four tenths through Clearways onto the main straight, and around such a short lap, that kind of time loss really costs you. The car was goodit was me that was slow!

Everywhere we had tested over the winter, we had been there-or-thereabouts within a few tenths of the quickest, so to suddenly be eight tenths off and right at the foot of the top 20 was quite a shock!

Evincing a mature approach towards the unexpected early drama, Hand went away, talked everything through with his engineer, slept on it and woke up the following day a different driverand how. In qualifying, he explained, everything clicked, and the Team Pyro ace turned the unenviable situation around in style to line up for the two races tenth and 11th respectively, barely a third of a second adrift of the ultimate benchmark and professing himself justifiably pleased with the considerable improvement.

Whats more, given that the same qualifying session determined the grid positions for both outings, to set two times scarcely a tenth of a second apart in his Clio Renaultsport 200 proved that the 18-year-olds eye-catching form was far from a one-lap wonder.

Race one was pretty hectic! Hand recalled. I didnt really know what to expect at the start, and everything got a bit crazy into the first corner as 23 Clios all fought over a small piece of track. With so many other cars all around me, I was very wary of contact and incurring any damage. Being so tentative meant I got mugged a little, but I learned from that.

After things had settled down, the race was fairly processional, to be honest. Some incidents ahead lifted me into the top ten, and I had latched onto the back of eighth and ninth places by the end. It was a shame we didnt have just a lap or two more, because we were faster than both of them, but I was still really happy to finish in the top ten for my first car racethat was what we had set out to achieve.

The start was a nightmare again in race two. The grid is on an incline at Brands Hatch, and I felt the car roll forward a tiny bit as the lights came on. I tapped the brake and the revs fell, but then when the lights went out, I dropped the clutch and just sat there spinning my wheels. To make matters worse, somebody turned straight across the front of me going into Paddock Hill Bend for the first time which knocked me sideways, and the upshot was that I came out of the first corner all the way down in 18th place!

I set about battling my way through the traffic and really got stuck in. I made a number of late-braking, karting-style moves from quite a long way back. That was really good fun, and I enjoyed being able to overtake so many driversI think Id passed someone at virtually every corner on the circuit by the end!

Rapidly getting to grips with the machinery at his disposal and betraying none of the usual rookie reticence, the Warwickshire teenager pulled off some supremely bold and incisive manoeuvres, even putting manners on several far more experienced adversaries along the way.

Twelfth when the chequered flag fell and setting some superb lap times for good measure, it was a performance that had commentators lauding Hand as one to watch over the coming weeks. As he looks ahead to round two at Donington Park in a fortnights time sitting an excellent tenth in the overall standings and sixth in the Graduate Cup, the Sigma and QTS-backed star is determined to do that billing justice.

Overall, it was an extremely positive weekend, he concluded, acknowledging that whilst he remains on a learning curve, to both qualify and finish inside the top ten on his car racing bow was tremendously encouraging. Ok, I made the races hard work for myself at the starts, but we always knew they were going to be an unknown quantity and the technique will come in time. If we returned to Brands Hatch and had the pace we displayed in race two right from the beginning of the meeting, it would be an altogether different result.

I cant wait for Donington Park, where we should be really quick. I feel a lot more confident now Ive got my first race weekend under my belt. I think we can edge a bit further towards the front of the field and spring some surprises as the season progresses. I certainly dont intend to stay in the middle of the pack all year!