QUALIFYING DRAMA AT SNETTERTON

After a much needed five week break for the teams and drivers, rounds 13 and 14 of the ELF Renault Clio Cup resumed at Snetterton, a track familiar to most teams due to the frequent availability for testing. Revved-up and raring to go, the whole team 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. Team Director, Martin Amery stated, “We certainly have not been sitting with our feet-up over the break, we used the time to study the data and try a few ideas out, that we couldn’t find time for mid-season”.

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 Shepherd (alias Dreaded Dave) 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. David’s father, Jonathan Shepherd 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, and within a couple of hours, David had a new windscreen and Jonathan’s gearbox was removed, clutch slave cylinder repaired, new clutch fitted and all rebuilt in record time.

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. David too could feel the improvement in rear-end grip from the new setup changes.

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, Team Manager Dom Field said, “Although we did not finish high in the points we were very happy with the set-up and we are looking forward to our home event at Oulton Park in a few weeks time, where we hope our drivers have better luck”.

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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