ROUNDS 11 & 12 – ELF Renault Clio Cup
Thruxton, Hampshire, October 13/14th 2007

Sandbach racers end season on a high at Thruxton thriller

The final two rounds of the Elf Renault Clio Cup championship at the famously fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, saw Sandbach father and son racing duo – Jonathan and David Shepherd, both enjoy their best results of the season in an action packed weekend of highly competitive racing, culminating in David being awarded ‘Driver of the Day’ for gaining 17 places in Sundays final race.

Supporting the high-profile British Touring Car Championship, the Clio Cup is a one-make saloon car series, boasting grids of over 40 cars and a host of talented racing drivers all aiming to progress up the motorsport ladder and become the next big name in British Touring Cars.

In their first season in the series having previously raced in the British Mini Championships, the ‘Team Gladman’ drivers; Jonathan and David have faced a very steep learning curve,professionally run by Congleton based Amery Motorsport, who like the drivers have faced the challenge of a new series and trying to extract every ounce of performance from the impressive race prepared Clio’s.

Going into the event David Shepherd (alias Dreaded Dave) was confident following several good results in recent races, whilst his father Jonathan was simply hoping for some good fortune following a big crash in testing at the circuit a few months earlier, when the car ended on it’s roof after a high speed accident.

Saturdays qualifying session did not go to plan, as both drivers failed to post their quick laps prior to a fellow competitor’s Clio dumping its oil on the track at the ‘Club’ chicane causing several cars to pile into the barriers and ending any hope of a fast lap time. Consequently Jon and David ended 32nd and 25th respectively on the grid for the Saturday afternoon race.

As the red lights went out, both drivers made a good start and managed to stay out of trouble in the opening laps and gained a few places in the process. After a few laps and with heat in the tyres David felt very confident with his set-up on the car and was soon chasing down and passing cars ahead, moving up to 11th by lap eight of the twelve lap race. Jonathan too had gained several more places and was running comfortably in 18th position.

With only four laps to go, just as in qualifying, another Clio took too much kerb through the ‘Club’ chicane, cracked his sump and dumped all his oil in the process. With the oil flags slow to be waved the leaders came round to the chicane unaware of the slippery surface and piled into the barriers. In total five cars crashed into each other causing the race to be red flagged, fortunately no one was injured, but several cars were damaged beyond repair.

Eventually the results were published and David was classified as finishing in 6th place, his best to date, with Jonathan finishing in 13th and scoring his second points finish of the season. A delighted David said, “I’m really pleased with that result, before the red flag I was already up near the front and still closing down the cars ahead, the team have done a mega job on the set-up, the car felt great”.

Round 12 and the final round of the championship on Sunday, saw David continue his impressive form finishing in 7th place and ending 18th overall out of 50 drivers registered in championship. Jonathan just failed to make the points this time, but went home pleased with his second set of championship points from Saturdays race.

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