Masters Cup Victories Belcher's Target At Donington

Donington Park National Circuit in the East Midlands hosts the second event of the Renault UK Clio Cup season next weekend, 20th/21st April, where Simon Belcher aims to get his 2013 campaign firmly on track after a serious case of bad luck during the championship curtain-raiser two weeks ago.Aiming to put a very unfortunate non-finish from the first event of the year at Brands Hatch behind him, the reigning Masters Cup Champion is determined to kick-start his title defence at Donington by challenging for a pair of class wins and overall top 10 finishes.Although able to chalk up his first points of 2013 in round two on Easter Sunday by finishing second in the Masters Cup battle, retiring from race oneafter innocently getting caught-up in a startline tangle not of his makingcertainly wasnt the ideal beginning to the year for the Swindon driver.Brands didnt go how we wanted or expected, said the 39-year-old, It was just unfortunate though, qualifying didnt go as planned and that put us further down the grid than we should have been. I didnt make the best of starts to the first race, which didnt help, and when youre in the middle of that tight pack youre always at risk of being collected by someone else.Despite the difficulties encountered at Brands Hatch, Belcher, who is backed by KRCHER and No Fear Energy, certainly had the pace to challenge for both Masters Cup wins. At Donington, therefore, he is confident of being back at the front in his class and right in the thick of the action.Im looking at Donington as a fresh start to the season really, we know we can win the Masters in both races and thats what Im setting out to do, added the Handy Motorsport with Pyro driver, I think the championship is probably even tighter this year than it was last season, theres very little to choose, but Im feeling confident for next weekend and really looking forward to it.Pre-event testing for the Donington weekend will take place on Thursday, 18th April, but Belcher did have the opportunity to have a run at his local track, Thruxton Circuit near Andover, earlier this week along with the majority of his fellow Clio Cup racers.As it turned out, rain in both sessions of the officially timed test on Tuesday, 9th April, led to a limited programme and resulted in most competitors, Belcher included, working on wet-weather settings and scrubbing-in treaded Dunlop tyres rather than focusing on lap times.Qualifying for the third and fourth rounds of the 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup at Donington Park will take place at 11.20 on Saturday, 20th April, with the first race of the weekend scheduled to begin at 17.05. Round four, which will be screened live on ITV4, on ITV4 HD and also streamed online at the www.itv.com/btcc website, will be held on Sunday, 21st April, starting at 13.35.Click here for the Official Renaultsport web site - designed and built by Racecar

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