Less than two weeks away from the resumption of hostilities in the fiercely-contested Renault UK Clio Cup, Ash Hand has been tipped to enjoy a barnstorming end to his maiden campaign of car racing competitionwith two of those closest to the gifted Nuneaton ace predicting that podium finishes and victories are not far off.
Having graduated from a stellar career in karting, Hand has turned many a head over the course of the opening five rounds of the ITV4-televised, BTCC-supporting Clio Cup, courtesy of seven top ten finishes to-date amongst the 24-strong fieldto say nothing of some blistering raw pace and eye-catching overtaking prowess behind the wheel of his Team Pyro-prepared, Sigma and QTS-backed Clio Renaultsport 200. The series leading car racing rookie is justifiably pleased with his outstanding progress thus far.
Im very happy with the way the season is going and the speed Ive shown, affirmed the highly-rated Maple Park hotshot. Its all been so new to me, but Ive learned a lot about the car and about how patient you need to be to extract the best out of it. Ive gained a lot of experience in terms of racecraft, too, and I really do feel were taking tremendous steps forward every time we go out.
One aspect that did take me by surprise is qualifying; I didnt anticipate how hard that would be, with just a two-lap window when the tyres are at their absolute peak to set a decent lap time. I feel Ive moved forward in that area as well, though, and over the remaining three rounds, the goal has to be to continue advancing up the order. I definitely want a podium between now and seasons end!
One man that Hand pinpoints as pivotal to his progress is mentor Phil Glew, who is perfectly-placed to assess how the 19-year-old has improved. The respect between the pair palpably mutual, the runaway 2009 Clio Cup UK Champion waxed lyrical about his protgs potential.
Ive been massively impressed with Ashs whole attitude, stressed the former British Touring Car Championship racer. He is a young driver who has stepped up from a very successful karting career and is probably the least experienced on the grid in terms of car racing. Taking that into account, he has done amazingly well.
If anything, I think he felt at the start of the season that he was going to be further up the pack than he initially was, but the benefit of that disappointment is that it has simply served to make him dig deeper and work even harder. By doing that, he has become an exceptionally good driver, and I would rate his racecraft amongst the best out thereif not indeed the best. When it comes to overtaking, Ash is one of the few drivers who truly gets stuck in, gets on with it and has a goa real breath of fresh air.
Learning the car has been the trickiest part for him, I would say. The Clio is front wheel-drive, and karting graduates or drivers accustomed to rear wheel-drive always underestimate how difficult that is going to be to adapt to. On a personal level, it was probably the hardest step I ever took in my career and I think Ash has had that same experience, but through a combination of commitment to the cause and some help from the team and myself, he has become a proper little racing driver now.
I think the key area in which Ash can still improve is qualifying. He does rely quite heavily on his racecraft, but if he could just start qualifying on the front couple of rows of the grid, imagine what he could do in the races, because in only his first year, he is already almost on the front-runners pace and knocking on their door. For him to be this good this soon is a firm sign that there is immense potential thereand he is only going to get better.
Glews conviction is shared by Pyro team manager Mark Hunt, who agrees that Hands racecraft is second-to-none and points to his brace of top six finishes in the most recent outing at Croftwhere the Warwickshire teenager had crashed during pre-season testingas an indicator of progress, even if the results didnt accurately reflect his true level of performance.
Not having the opportunity to test in-season makes things very difficult for rookies and leaves them on the back foot a little compared to the more experienced drivers, he explained. If we could test at the track the week before the race meeting, Ive no doubt Ash would be right up at the front. In qualifying, he is much better than he was, although he remains just a couple of tenths off. Starting that bit further down the grid makes the races so much harder, but he is learning all the time.
He had only been to Croft once before, when it had been freezing cold and rainingso not hugely representative for a summer race meeting! He was two seconds off the pace pre-season, yet in the first race there last month, Ash was the fastest of anybody through the first two sectors of the lap, which goes to show how much he has stepped up his game. By the end of the weekend, he was one of the very quickest on the track.
He is on a big learning curve this year, but he has picked everything up really quickly and he is concentrating hard on simulator work at iZone, which I believe has been extremely beneficial. He is coming on in leaps-and-bounds now, and he really is nearly there. He just needs to keep pushing and carry his current momentum on to the end of the season and turn it into podium finishes. He deserves that, and I think it is easily achievable with the speed he has.
Ash clearly has a lot of talent, and I genuinely do believe that when he reaches 100 per cent of his potential and starts winning races, nobody will be able to stop him. If he continues in the championship next year, I think he stands an excellent chance.
