AS RENAULT UK CLIO CUP CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY
JamSport’s Ant Whorton-Eales (Lichfield) and WDE Motorsport’s Paul Rivett (Epsom Downs) shared the wins in Sunday’s two action-packed Renault UK Clio Cup races at Leicestershire’s Donington Park circuit – an event which marked the championship’s 25th anniversary. Significantly a 100th podium result in the category for Rivett means he has taken over the championship lead heading to the next two rounds at Hampshire’s high-speed Thruxton circuit (Sat 7/Sun 8 May).
Whorton-Eales won Sunday’s first race ahead of Team Cooksport’s Lee Pattison (Scholes) and Rivett but needed to pass both after losing out to them in the opening stages.
In race two – shown live on ITV4 – he again crossed the line in first position, this time clear of Rivett and WDE’s Charles Ladell (Bury St Edmunds). However Whorton-Eales was later excluded from the results because of a technical infringement with his car – a decision that has been appealed by the JamSport team.
Pending the outcome of that appeal, Rivett is the winner of race two from Ladell and Finesse Motorsport’s Paul Streather (Hinckley) who is promoted to third.
For Ladell it is his first top-three race result in the UK Clio Cup. Rivett meanwhile has now achieved an incredible century of podium results in the championship…
Furthermore Rivett has taken over the championship lead ahead of Streather in second. Pattison, who had led the table arriving at Donington, has dropped to third after finishing Sunday’s second race in a lowly 17th – the consequence of a tangle early on with Ladell. WDE has also extended its lead over Cooksport at the head of the Entrants’ championship.
Elsewhere there were a number of other star performances at Donington. Ciceley Motorsport’s Max Coates (Scorton) belied his lack of UK Clio Cup experience to qualify on pole position for race one before motoring to two fourth-place results in the races to make it four straight maximum scores in the Graduates Cup for younger, first-season drivers.
Cooksport’s George Jackson (Bedford) displayed great speed in both races while Senna Proctor (Driffield) shrugged off a heavy crash in race one to finish race two a fighting seventh in a hastily repaired Team BMR with Pyro car. Team Ecomotive with Finesse’s Daniel Rowbottom (Kidderminster), Pyro’s Josh Price (Redbourn) and Cooksport’s Rory Collingbourne (Newport, Gwent) were on the move as well, improving considerably on their starting grid positions.
