The Dynojet Toyota of Frank Wrathall arguably enjoyed it’s most successful outing yet at Croft despite having to endure to DNF races on Sunday. The car was showing top 10 race pace, even though that elusive points scoring finish still didn’t come. The team will now be full of confidence going into the summer break.

Qualifying on Saturday saw Wrathall post the 17th quickest time, and the wet conditions in Sunday’s first race saw him briefly run inside the points. He eventually finished 12th having shown strong pace throughout.

“That was a really good race,” said Wrathall afterwards, “and easily the best one we’ve had so far. The car ran faultlessly and performed well in the conditions.”

The second race saw him start from 12th on the grid, and in much drier conditions than the first race once again Wrathall was in the thick of a battle for a top 10 place. Sadly contact with Alex Macdowell’s Chevrolet Cruze at the hairpin damaged a rear wheel which meant retirement for him after an excursion into the gravel at the following corner.

The team managed to repair the car for race three, but contact at the Jim Clark Esses with a tyre stack saw Wrathall slide off the track and into the corn field on the outside of the circuit. Despite the misfortunes, Frank and the team were pleased with the pace and reliability shown by the Avensis, and go into the break with confidence running high.

“The car felt excellent in the final race and I was tucked in behind the car in front heading into the Esses,” said Wrathall. “The tyres on the edge of the circuit are in a ridiculous place as every lap you have cars either touching them or nearly touching them and I just made a mistake. I clipped the tyres on the left and that was it, game over.”

He went on to add; “It’s frustrating that we go home from here with two DNFs, but race two was down to someone else hitting me and then I made a mistake in race three. The car has been fantastic this weekend and had run faultlessly, which is really good for the team.”

“I now feel we have genuine top 10 pace and we also have the reliability to go with it. Croft has been a real turning point for our season as we have a good package to work with and we now have to work on coming back at Snetterton with even more pace than we’ve shown here.”

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

Richard Devine is our Renault Clio Cup correspondant for 2012. You can contact him at richard@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter at @ricker666.