Aron Smith Takes Win In Incident Packed Race One
The first AirAsia Clio Cup race of the weekend saw Team Pyro’s Aron Smith claim his first win of the 2011 campaign amid a race filled with incident.
Smith had claimed pole position from qualifying earlier that day, and led from the off right through to the checkered flag finishing less than half a second in front of Westbourne Motorsport’s James Colburn. He managed to stay in front despite a two lap dash for the flag after five laps behind the safety car while those caught up in incidents were removed from the track.
He said after the race ; “I pulled out a good lead in the first laps so I was comfortable in front. When it all kicked off behind I lost the gap with the safety car coming out, but I played it safe after the restart and I’m delighted with the win.”
Colburn admitted afterwards that his second place was somewhat of an opportunistic podium saying; “I was catching the cars in front and then all of a sudden there was a coming together between them. I just aimed for the gap and got up to second place.”
An incident involving TCR’s Tom Grice, JHR Developments’ Lee Pattison and Scuderia Vittoria’s Luke Wright had varying outcomes for the three drivers, with Pattison and Wright unfortunately coming off the worst.
Tom Grice, starting second on the grid, got away to a good start but then ran into some trouble; “I made a really good start, but then there was contact. Lee was defending but I got a run into Noble. I felt a bit of a tap at the rear, but I managed to catch the slide and didn’t get sideswiped.”
Grice went on to finish on the podium in third, but Pattison was not so fortunate; “I half spun at Noble and caught it, but the car then swung violently the other way and I was caught in the pack with Luke the unlucky one as he was next along.”
Wright made heavy contact with Pattison, leaving his team with it all to do to repair the Clio for race two on Sunday afternoon. Sadly for him and his Scuderia Vittoria team, it was to be that his weekend was over as he did not take his place on the grid on Sunday.
“I’d made a great start up to fourth,” he said. “I think Pattison made a mistake and let Grice alongside then they were both sideways. Grice caught it, but Pattison was right in front of me and there was nowhere I could go.”
It was not to be a good afternoon either for Wright’s teammate Matt Allison, as he retired a lap earlier after contact with Adam Bonham damaged his rear suspension. Strangely though this turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Scuderia Vittoria team, as Matt explained after the race;
“I could see there was an incident about to happen ahead of me, but then Adam Bonham tried to overtake but collected my left rear instead. The saving grace is the team found that a stone had pierced the radiator and we had no coolant left; and a new rear suspension arm is cheaper than a new engine.”
The incident list didn’t end there though. Our own blog writer and Team Pyro driver Jack Goff managed to claim sixth place after twice having to avoid contact.
“I had to avoid Jake Packun at the first chicane and then my team-mate spun at the second one, so it was a nightmare first lap for me,” he said. “After that I just kept my head down and avoided other people’s incidents.”
The safety car was deployed for 1/3 race distance while the carnage was cleared away. Someone who was also struggling but for different reasons was Championship Leader Paul Rivett who was a lap down on the leaders after a deflated left tyre at Village on the seventh lap. Despite this he still ended the day leading the standings.
With all this going on, Nicolas Hamilton found himself enjoying his first top ten finish in his replacement car after his high speed off at Goodwood on Friday.
“It was a good result after a difficult weekend so far,” he said. “The big smash on Friday certainly knocked my confidence so I got my head down and just tried to learn as much as I could. I wasn’t carrying as much speed through Goodwood in the race. It is a horrendous corner, the worse in my four weeks of racing so far, but with more time and experience I’m sure I’ll get on top of it.”
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey
Richard Devine
