ROUNDS 13 & 14 – ELF Renault Clio Cup
Snetterton, Norfolk, July 12th/13th 2008
QUALIFYING DRAMA AT SNETTERTON
After a much needed five week break for the drivers and teams,
rounds 13 and 14 of the ELF Renault Clio Cup resumed at Snetterton,
a track familiar to most drivers due to the frequent availability
for testing. Revved-up and raring to go, the father and son racing
duo, Jonathan and David Shepherd were looking forward to the challenge
presented by the fast Norfolk circuit.
During the break the Amery Motorsport team who run the two ‘Team
Gladman’ race cars from their Congleton base, had been trying
a few adjustments to the cars and were hoping their drivers would
benefit from a little more rear-end stability as a result.
Following a mixed weather test day on the Friday, the qualifying
session on Saturday morning was dry and after posting 5th fastest
time in his early laps, David pitted for his tyre change. However
after starting his second flying lap, as he hugged the pit wall
for optimum speed his car hit a pit board held out by another
team, smashing his windscreen and forcing him to retire from the
session. Jonathan also suffered bad luck when he pitted for a
tyre change. Pressing the clutch to select 1st gear and rejoin
the track, the clutch slave cylinder failed, ending his session
early too.
A frustrated David said afterwards, “The car felt great
and I couldn’t believe it when the pit board hit the car,
luckily that was the only damage. If it hadn’t finished
my session early I am sure I could have qualified in the top ten”.
The Amery Motorsport team quickly got to work fixing the two Clios
ready for Saturdays first race, with David having a new windscreen
and Jonathan’s gearbox needing to be removed to repair the
clutch slave cylinder and fit a new clutch.
Both cars lined-up on the 27 strong Clio grid for race one and
after making good starts both Team Gladman drivers managed to
keep out of trouble, despite a brief shower mid-way through the
race and gain a few places, with David finishing 14th and Jonathan
just making it into the points in 20th.
Race two on Sunday afternoon saw the weather improve and with
no repairs for the team from Saturdays race, the cars were ready
well in time. Again both drivers got away well and settled into
the race, with Jonathan starting to gain pace as he felt more
grip from the car and was battling hard with the number 88 car
of Dickinson. David too could feel the improvement in rear-end
grip from the teams new suspension tweak.
Unfortunately Jonathan’s race was virtually ended mid-way,
when he was forced to pit with a puncture and although he rejoined,
he was a lap adrift and well out of the points. David meanwhile
drove a solid race, lapping only 0.5 of a second off the leaders
pace, but unable to make many places following his poor qualifying
position as a result of the pit-board incident.
Summing-up the weekends drama, Jonathan Shepherd said, “Although
we did not finish high in the points we were both very happy with
the set-up and we are looking forward to our home event at Oulton
Park in a few weeks time”.
You can watch the ELF Renault Clio Cup live on ITV Four and further
coverage on Motorsport UK, check programme listings for times.
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