Title Fighters Set The Pace In Friday Practice
The 2011 AirAsia Clio Cup finale at Brands Hatch began with the Friday practice sessions, which saw title contenders Aron Smith and Paul Rivett hit the top of the timesheets.
Smith went fastest in the mornings session setting the pace with a lap of 1:40.369. Crucially for the Team Pyro man, his times were competitive despite only having old tyres available for both sessions on Friday. His fastest lap in the afternoon session was only three tenths slower, keeping him firmly at the sharp end going into Saturday.
“The first session went very well for us,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have no new tyres this weekend so to be P1 in the first session is a big achievement, especially as a few of the others were using new tyres. I don’t want to count my chickens before the eggs hatch, but I think that we should be alright this weekend. I’m confident and I have good pace round here, out the back especially, which is really what you need.”
Second in the morning, was local favourite, TCR’s James Dixon. Dixon, who works during the week at the circuit, has taken more wins this season than anyone else, and will be hoping for a couple more to take him over the finishing line. His time of 1:40.796 was substantially better than he could manage in the afternoon, but remained positive afterwards.
“I think that we were spot on in the first session this morning,” he said. “I have no complaints at all about that, the grand prix circuit layout is a difficult track to get used to, so I am happy with our performance. We’re looking good for tomorrow in qualifying.”
Double Champion Paul Rivett had a much more successful outing than in recent weeks, with a third fastest time in the morning followed by the fastest time of the day in the afternoon. His time of 1:40.323 was three tenths quicker than any lap set by another title contender, but he remained philosophical.
“This is just what we need when we are fighting for the championship here this weekend; what a great couple of races it is going to be. As we know, testing is never quite a mark of where everybody is going to end up finishing in the races, but its definitely a good sign that we are at the front.”
Jack Goff, currently sitting fifth, was also using old tyres throughout the day, but still managed to remain only half a second shy of Rivett’s fastest lap around the 2.6 mile circuit. Goff is not to be ignored as they all go onto fresh rubber for qualifying, as he will be looking to repeat his performance from a fortnight ago.
James Colburn found himself off the pace down in eighth place in the morning session, but improved in the afternoon by around half a second to get himself in the mix.
The closest man to Paul Rivett’s time, was Scuderia Vittoria’s Luke Wright. His lap of 1:40.345 left him under a tenth back on the former Champion. While not in the title hunt this weekend, he isn’t going to let that stop him looking for podiums and firmly believes that there is more time to be found.
“Testing has been pretty good for us,” he said. “The session was quite average for us in the morning. However, after making some changes the car was very good to drive in the second session. I think there’s certainly more time to find on track, so hopefully we will be quicker come qualifying.”
Another performance worth noting, is that of JHR Developments’ Rob Boston. Making his 2011 debut at Rockingham, the Mazda MX-5 Champion has the funding to compete in the Brands Hatch round and carried on where he left off two weeks ago. Two more top ten times further enhance his return to the series, and should he be able to post a good qualifying time, could well show up among the top guys this weekend.
TCR’s Nicolas Hamilton also enjoyed one of his better sessions this season, overall classifying 12th, under a second away from Rivett’s fastest time. The young driver has been steadily progressing throughout his debut year in the Clio Cup, and will be hoping to carry this through to qualifying tomorrow to get himself in the thick of the action.
Saturdays action begins with qualifying at 11:15 and race one at 16:25.
For full classification see http://www.tsl-timing.com/toca/2011/113941cli.pdf
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey
Richard Devine
