Brands Hatch set for dramatic 4 way Renault UK Clio Cup title fight

A thrilling four-way fight for the 2015 Renault UK Clio Cup title is guaranteed in Brands Hatch’s season finale (Sat 10/Sun 11 Oct) after Ashley Sutton (Bishops Stortford) and Ant Whorton-Eales (Lichfield) shared the wins in Sunday’s two penultimate rounds at Silverstone.

 Sutton won the day’s opening race in his Team BMR Restart with Pyro car ahead of WDE Motorsport’s Paul Rivett (Epsom) and Maximum Motorsport’s Whorton-Eales. Just 0.319 of a second covered Sutton, Rivett and Whorton-Eales at the line to make it the closest top three UK Clio Cup finish in history. Meanwhile championship leader, Pyro’s Ash Hand (Nuneaton), followed them home in fourth.

 In race two Whorton-Eales emerged the winner but only after a last-gasp move to re-take the lead from Sutton at the final bend. WDE’s Dan Holland (Dagenham) took a deserved maiden podium result in third ahead of Rivett who set a new lap record during the race. Notably Hand crossed the line in third but was relegated to sixth by a time penalty.

CLICK HERE for more detailed reports of both races.

 The outcome of both races is that Hand still leads the standings but, on the all-important ‘two dropped scores’ rule, this is by a much reduced margin of just 11 points over Sutton heading to Brands Hatch where a maximum score of 68 is possible from the two races around its legendary Grand Prix circuit. Whorton-Eales is just three points further back in third while Rivett, 55 adrift in fourth, has it all to do at his team’s home circuit.

 After Silverstone’s races Hand commented: “Today hasn’t worked out as I had hoped – I had very much come to Silverstone with the intention of winning just as I always do – but the title is still mine for the taking I believe at Brands Hatch. It’s a circuit I love and I was on pole position there last year.”

Sutton said: “I came into today 31 points behind Ash on dropped scores and it’s suddenly down to 11 so things have played out very well for me here at Silverstone. Now it’s all down to what happens at Brands Hatch and the GP circuit there is my favourite circuit on the calendar.”

And Whorton-Eales added: “Getting back ahead of Ashley and winning race two here at Silverstone was massive for me in terms of my chances going to Brands Hatch. We’ve clearly got the pace to attack at Brands as our two pole positions as well as the win here have shown.”

Three-time Champion Rivett, the big outsider, said: “I know the maths say otherwise but, really, those three would have to do something pretty silly to let me back in at Brands Hatch. On saying that it’s a new scenario for them all and they will feel the nerves whereas I’ve been there a few times before and have nothing to lose.”

Silverstone’s race event also saw some fine performances from a number of drivers making their Renault UK Clio Cup debuts. In Saturday’s qualified session Team Cooksport’s Alex Sedgwick (Leamington Spa), at 16 the youngest driver on the grid this season, had brilliantly set the fifth fastest time. In Sunday’s opening race Maximum’s Tom Witts (Crick) and Ben Davis (Ledbury) – his Italian Rangoni Corse team also making its first appearance in the championship – finished a fine fifth and sixth outright. Davis was able to back that up in race two with a seventh as Pyro’s Josh Price (Redbourn), seventh and fifth in the two races, and JamSport Racing’s Tom Grundy (Jumeirah, Dubai) also showed strongly all weekend.

 More newcomers, Rangoni’s Italian driver Michele Puccetti (Florence) and 20Ten Racing duo Tom Butler (Derby) and Sam Watkins (Swansea), performed strongly at Silverstone as well. In both races Puccetti was the highest finisher in the Masters Cup class for older drivers.

Top 6 (provisional), Renault UK Clio Cup, Race 1, Silverstone, Sun 27 Sept 2015

1 Ashley Sutton Team BMR Restart with Pyro 20 laps in 23m13.771s 2 Paul Rivett WDE Motorsport +0.178s 3 Ant Whorton-Eales Maximum Motorsport +0.319s 4 Ash Hand Team Pyro +1.281s 5 Tom Witts Maximum Motorsport +8.117s 6 Ben Davis Rangoni Corse +8.546s

Fastest Lap: Rivett, 1m04.748s (91.21mph)

 Top 6 (provisional), Renault UK Clio Cup, Race 2, Silverstone, Sun 27 Sept 2015

1 Ant Whorton-Eales Maximum Motorsport 18 laps in 19m35.411s 2 Ashley Sutton Team BMR Restart with Pyro +0.302s 3 Dan Holland WDE Motorsport +2.489s 4 Paul Rivett WDE Motorsport +2.804s 5 Josh Price Team Pyro +3.262s 6 Ash Hand Team Pyro +7.036s

Fastest Lap: Rivett, 1m04.726s (91.24mph) NEW LAP RECORD

Points Leaders (provisional):=1 Hand & Whorton-Eales, 426; 3 Sutton 409; 4 Rivett 357; 5 Charles Ladell (WDE Motorsport) 230; 6 Jack Mitchell (20Ten Racing) 202; 7 Rory Collingbourne (Team Cooksport) 190; 8 George Jackson (Team Cooksport) 183; 9 Jordan Stilp (20Ten Racing) 172; 10 Dan Holland 139 etc.

On Dropped Scores (provisional):1 Hand 404; 2 Sutton 393; Whorton-Eales 390; 4 Rivett 349; 5 Ladell 219; 6 Mitchell 202; =7 Collingbourne & Jackson 178; 9 Stilp 172; 10 Holland 139 etc.


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