Following hot on the heels of its barnstorming race-winning start to the 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup just a week ago, Finesse Motorsport is targeting continued success when the championship resumes at Donington Park this coming weekend, 16th/17th April, for rounds three and four of the season.
Making headlines with a sensational victory during the opening race of the year at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, only his third race in the BTCC supporting category, Finesse driver Paul Streather added a top four finish in round two and will arrive at his ‘home’ circuit a superb second in the standings.
Hinckley-based Streather, who graduated into the Renault UK Clio Cup this year as Vice-Champion of the club level Michelin Clio Cup Series, has underlined his front-running credentials in no uncertain terms and is looking forward to racing on home soil in Leicestershire a few days from now.
“I’m really looking forward to Donington, I like the track and it’s obviously a local circuit for me so we’ll have plenty of friends and family coming along”, said the 26-year-old, “We’ll be pushing just as hard as we did at Brands Hatch, if not harder to be honest now we know a bit more about the car.
“We didn’t have a big pre-season like a lot of the other drivers, so we’re still learning. Our base car is very good, everyone at Finesse has done a fantastic job, but we’ll probably make some small tweaks for things like tyre management. Brands was obviously an unbelievable start to the year, hopefully we can continue to be up at the front at Donington.”
Despite fielding a single fourth generation Clio Cup car at the present time, Finesse goes into the second weekend of the season an excellent fourth in the Entrants’ Trophy against two, three and four car teams – clear proof of the gravity of its Brands Hatch performance.
Having tasted the winners’ champagne for the first time in the high-profile BTCC feeder series, team boss Neil Giddings is hungry for more success and says Streather is very much the real deal as a genuine championship threat.
“Paul’s doing an incredible job, we knew from working with him towards the end of last year how quick he was but the win at Brands was unbelievable”, said Giddings, “It’s not going to be easy to do it again at Donington, there are a lot of very quick drivers out there this year, but we’ve shown what we’re capable of and Paul is a proper contender.
“We said before the start of the season we’re not here to make up the numbers and we proved that in the first round. We’ll be doing everything we can to give Paul the best possible car for Donington and, hopefully, be up there again fighting for the podium.”
The team was actually back on track last Thursday, 7th April, at Thruxton during the pre-event test for the third meeting of the season in early May at the Hampshire track. As well as Streather’s race-winning car, the team also ran Jake Giddings, son of Finesse boss Neil, in the squad’s second Clio. British GT Championship regular Jake is confirmed to make a one-off race return in Clios at Thruxton.
For this coming weekend’s visit to Donington Park National Circuit, pre-event practice will take place on Thursday, 14th April, with qualifying for rounds three and four following on Saturday, 16th April, at 12.10. Both races will be contested on Sunday, 17th April, with the opening contest getting underway at 10.40 and race two – which will be screened live on ITV4 and streamed online HERE – following at 15.45.
2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd2):2nd Paul Streather, 54pts
2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Entrants’ Trophy Standings (after Rd2):4th Finesse Motorsport, 54pts
