Dixon Prevails Above Race One Incidents
TCR’s James Dixon prevailed through a race filled with incident in Saturday’s race one to take the win and with it head back to the top of the AirAsia Clio Cup Championship standings.
The morning’s qualifying had seen Dixon only qualify fifth, about four tenths adrift of pole position man, Westbourne Motorsports James Colburn who collected his first pole start of the season.
Along side him on the front row, was Team Pyro’s Aron Smith,with Smith’s team mate Jack Goff claiming third, despite having been fastest until very late in the session. Scuderia Vittoria’s local driver Matt Allison rounded out the front two rows in fourth.
The days programme had been delayed by 20 minutes, but the cars took to the grid in the penultimate event of the day for race one of the weekend.
Carnage ensued on the first lap, as Colburn lost out in a four way battle after Riches, losing the rear end of the car and lifting off to correct as Jack Goff took the lead.
Colburns mistake ultimately resulted in retirement for Matt Allison and Aron Smith after the chaos, with Goff and Colburn demoted to the back of the field but able to continue despite damage to both cars.
BTCC Crazy blog writer Goff was understandably disappointed after the race, with a genuine feeling that he could have taken the win had he not been involved in the Montreal tangle.
This left Dixon, and Scuderia Vittoria driver Luke Wright to pick through the mayhem to take first and second places respectively.
Jake Packun, Adam Bonham and Josh Files were hot on the heels of Wright and Dixon, while Paul Rivett struggled back in seventh position.
Third through sixth changed position several times, allowing Wright the opportunity to reel in Dixon, but he ran out of laps to make any move on the leader and Dixon took the chequered flag and with it returned to the top of the standings.
“I didn’t get a brilliant start, it wasn’t stunning,” said Dixon. “Snetterton is a pretty tight circuit so it was always going to kick off here; and it did.”
Damage On Jordan's Clio: Photo Richard Devine
“Allison went down the inside of Colburn and it didn’t work out and the result was four cars wiped out. For me it worked out well as I had such a big gap then from those behind, it was ridiculous – I could hardly see the cars behind! My job then was to stay consistent and come home to take the win. I saw Luke catching towards the end of the race, but there was still enough of a gap to be comfortable. Now I just need to put my second race head on and see if I can do the same again and maintain my lead in the championship.”
Wright was delighted with second saying after the race; “I got an absolutely mega start. The first lap was carnage going into the second corner, with bits of car going everywhere, but I managed to come out of it fine and quickly pulled out a small gap, and managed to keep Files behind me for the rest of the race.”
Possibly the happiest man of the afternoon though was local man Josh Files, who in front of his local crowd claimed third and his first podium in the Clio Cup.
Race One Winner James Dixon: Photo Richard Devine
“I’m over the moon with third,” he said. “Qualifying did not go to plan and I was really gutted for a few hours, and I was going through the data thinking ‘where the hell can I make the time up?’ and ‘what have I done wrong?’ I said to my crew I want to be fourth by the first corner, which I didn’t quite manage, but by the second corner I was happy and I’m over the moon with a podium from tenth, it’s simply brilliant.”
Alan Hyde referred to the “rookies on the podium” as Files went a little too early with the champagne shower!
He went on to say to BTCC Crazy, “I really needed that!” His father was also noticeably pleased telling us; “I’ll take that” with a huge smile on his face.
Elsewhere, TCR’s season debutant Andy Jordan was involved in a horrific accident in the latter stages of the race in which he caused massive damage to his car.
The Sunday race will see Aron Smith starting from pole alongside Matt Allison, with Jack Goff in third and James Colburn starting fourth. Files will be starting from tenth as he did for the first race, but after todays outing he will be looking to push through the order from the start.
Round 11 results
1. James Dixon Total Control Racing 21m 52.155s
2. Luke Wright Scuderia Vittoria 21m 52.670s
3. Josh Files Team Pyro 21m 52.994s
4. Adam Bonham Team Pyro 21m 53.634s
5. Jake Packun Get On Track Developments 21m 54.765s
6. Paul Rivett Luminson Blue Square Data / Stancombe Vehicle Engineering 21m 55.552s
7. Neb Bursac Team Pyro 21m 56.978s
8. Craig Currie Team Pyro 22m 00.848s
9. Jack Goff Team Pyro 22m 03.616s
10. James Colburn Westbourne Motorsport 22m 04.019s
Round twelve top ten qualifying times
1. Aron Smith Team Pyro 2:09.243 (G)
2. Matt Allison Scuderia Vittoria 2:09.272
3. Jack Goff Team Pyro 2:09.299 (G)
4. James Colburn Westbourne Motorsport 2:08.317 (G)
5. Paul Rivett Luminson Blue Square Data / Stancombe Vehicle Engineering 2:09.418
6. James Dixon Total Control Racing 2:09.557 (G)
7. Luke Wright Scuderia Vittoria 2:09.610 (G)
8. Jake Packun Get On Track Developments 2:09.732 (G)
9. Adam Bonham Team Pyro 2:09.791 (G)
10. Josh Files Team Pyro 2:10.108 (G)
Round eleven top ten qualifying times
1. James Colburn Westbourne Motorsport 2:08.937 (G)
2. Aron Smith Team Pyro 2:09.220 (G)
3. Jack Goff Team Pyro 2:09.228 (G)
4. Matt Allison Scuderia Vittoria 2:09.230
5. James Dixon Total Control Racing 2:09.368 (G)
6. Paul Rivett Luminson Blue Square Data / Stancombe Vehicle Engineering 2:09.395
7. Luke Wright Scuderia Vittoria 2:09.425 (G)
8. Adam Bonham Team Pyro 2:09.686 (G)
9. Jake Packun Get On Track Developments 2:09.698 (G)
10. Josh Files Team Pyro 2:10.066 (G)
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey
Richard Devine
