ROUNDS 5 & 6 – ELF Renault Clio Cup, Donington, Leicestershire, 16/17 May 2009
Double Disappointments for both Dave’s at Donington

The fast, sweeping curves of Donington were home to rounds 5 and 6 of the ELF Renault Clio Cup. The Leicestershire track is a favourite with most drivers, due to its mix of technical corners and the awesome ‘Craner Curves’.

After early morning rain, the track had dried out for Saturdays qualifying session and with 26 evenly matched Clio’s all challenging for pole position, qualifying as ever, was going to be frantic. Straight away Amery Motorsport drivers, Dave Newsham and Dave Shepherd were lying in P3 and P4 positions, prior to the dash to the pits to add fresh rubber to the front wheels.

Following the tyre change, instead of gaining an expected half a second, both drivers struggled to match their earlier pace and found themselves dropping down the order, with Newsham eventually finishing P5 for race one and P3 for race two. Meanwhile Shepherd finished the session with P15 and P13 and Clio newcomer Darren Wilson ended with P23 for both races. After a de-brief with the drivers post qualifying, it appears that the new front tyres were creating understeer and that it seemed that old rubber was the order of the day.

Race one late Saturday afternoon was again a dry race, despite the mixed weather that was to be a feature throughout the weekend. As the red lights went out, Newsham made an electric start from 5th on the grid, but found himself sandwiched into Redgate and going wheel to wheel with Lee Patison through the Craner Curves he was hit from behind going into the Old Hairpin and ended in the gravel and out of the race.
Meanwhile Shepherd was battling hard and gained several places during the early laps, only to tangle with Hazell in car 5, damaging his steering in the process and ending his race. Unlike his team-mates, Wilson managed to stay out of trouble and gain several places during the race, finishing 17th and gaining the only team points of the day.

Mixed weather on Sunday caused havoc throughout the day for many of the drivers in both the Touring Cars and the various support races. As the Clio’s lined-up in the assembly area, there was plenty of discussion between drivers and mechanics as the tyre choice was going to be crucial to getting a good result.

Most drivers including Shepherd and Newsham opted for slicks on the front and wets on the rear as the track was drying. Wilson opted for wets all-round, but soon realised his mistake on the green flag laps and pitted for slicks only to lose too much time and miss the starting pack, eventually finishing in 19th place. Shepherd also pitted, but deciding to do so on the first of the two green flag laps, he managed to start from the pits and keep on the tail end of the grid, gaining several places throughout the race and finished a well-earned 16th by the chequered flag. Newsham starting from 3rd on the grid and was hoping to make up for his unfortunate dnf in race one, but unfortunately made a mistake going into the chicane on the second lap, hitting the tyres, damaging his steering and forcing him to retire.

A disappointed team manager, Martin Amery said after the races, “We were really looking forward to Donington, especially after a strong showing in testing, but once again the Donington curse beset the team and bad luck was the order of the day, resulting in three dnf’s and a serious blow to Dave Newsham’s strong start to the season”.

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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