ROUNDS 1&2 – ELF Renault Clio Cup - Brands Hatch, Kent, 4/5 April 2009
Impressive start for Amery Motorsport at Brands Hatch

The famous Kent racing circuit - Brands Hatch, hosted the two opening rounds of the 2009 ELF Renault Clio Cup and saw the Amery Motorsport team, grab a bag full of points as all three drivers rose to the occasion.

The ELF Renault Clio Cup is a one-make saloon car series, now enjoying its tenth year and still a firm favourite with the crowds as it supports the high-profile British Touring Car Championship. A proven stepping-stone for potential touring car aspirants the Clio Cup attracts some of the best drivers in the UK, as they compete for the honours and the chance to move-up into top-level motorsport.

Now firmly established as one of the leading teams in the championship, Amery Motorsport start the season with a three driver line-up. Amery regular, David Shepherd is looking to be a consistent front-runner, following his impressive pace during 2008 and will be competing against his Amery team-mate Dave Newsham, who joined the team for the last race in 2008, making a very impressive debut and competed in the Winter series, notching-up his maiden win and two podium finishes. Completing the trio of racers is Clio debutant Darren Wilson, who has raced successfully in the Stock Hatch championship for the last 5 years.

Fridays test day allowed the team to develop the set-up, ready for the qualifying and races, which fortunately all took place in dry conditions. Although Dave Newsham struggled with rear end grip, all three drivers ended the test day without incident and prepared themselves for Saturdays qualifying.
On the short Indy circuit at Brands, finding a clear lap is the key to setting a quick time in qualifying and all three drivers struggled with the traffic. Dave Shepherd came out best, setting P6 for race one and P9 for race two, Dave Newsham was less than three hundredths of a second behind Shepherd, with P7 for race one and beating Shepherd with P5 for race two. Although only one second off the pace, Darren Wilson was pleased with P23 and P25 respectively, as he gets to grips with the highly competitive series.

Race one saw all the drivers make good starts, Dave Newsham was beaten into the first corner by the two cars behind who got away superbly at the lights and running wide at Paddock Hill bend, he dropped to 9th where he eventually finished the race. Shepherd although boxed in at the first corner, dropping to tenth, made a superb move at Clearways moving up to ninth and then gaining a further place, thanks to Newsham’s error, resulting in Shepherd finishing an excellent eighth. Darren Wilson drove a faultless race and finished in 22nd place, just shy of the points.

In race two, Newsham was on the third row and made a great start, pressurising Patterson, he forced an error and took fifth place at the finish. Unfortunately for Dave Shepherd he was involved in a start line accident with Robinson, which ended his race, through no fault of his own, Robinson was later fined two points on his licence for his sins. Meanwhile Darren Wilson again drove a faultless race, finishing in 18th place with a couple of points in the bag and relieved to have his first Clio Cup event under his belt.

A happy team manager, Martin Amery said after the race, “I’m sure the drivers probably wanted to finish higher than they did, but I am really pleased with the results, after all the hard work the team has put in over the winter, all the drivers had good results, with the exception of ‘Dreaded Dave’ in race two and something to build on for the next event at Thruxton”.

You can watch the ELF Renault Clio Cup live on ITV4 with further coverage on Motorsport UK and Men & Motors, check programme listings for times.

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