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Total Control Racing Silverstone Satuday notes
TORDOFF TAKES DRAMATIC WET-WEATHER WIN AT SILVERSTONE Sam Tordoff took his -- and Total Control Racing's -- second ELF Renault Clio Cup race victory of the 2010 season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit this afternoon, Saturday, 18th September, ...
Edited: Sep 21, 2010, 2:17 AM
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TORDOFF TAKES DRAMATIC WET-WEATHER WIN AT SILVERSTONE
Sam Tordoff took his -- and Total Control Racing's -- second ELF Renault Clio Cup race victory of the 2010 season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit this afternoon, Saturday, 18th September, with a very well judged drive in changing conditions during the first of the weekend's encounters.
The Leeds racer, who has recently become a British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) Rising Star, was able to make the most of a decision by his Wednesbury team to gamble on the worsening weather and thanks to his treaded tyres he was able to usurp the slick-shod early pace-setters as more rain fell.
Starting the race from an uncharacteristic ninth on the grid, behind team-mates Mike Robinson and James Dixon who qualified fifth and sixth fastest respectively, Tordoff moved into the top six on lap one while Dixon and Robinson fared less well -- the former being unceremoniously smashed into on the opening lap and the latter ending his race on the first tour after an unfortunate excursion.
Stockbury driver Dixon did mount a good recovery after dropping to 14th place, and posted the fastest lap of the race on the second tour to gain a couple of bonus points, but his race ended with a steering failure on the penultimate lap which came as a result of the impact he sustained on lap one.
As the rain fell heavier, so Tordoff was able to make the most of the grip available to him with his wet-weathertyres and he took the lead on lap eight before pulling clear to a three second winning margin. His victory also gave him success in the Graduate Cup class during the first of the weekend's Clio Cup races on the World Series by Renault support bill.
Reflecting on the outing, TCR team principal Lee Brookes said: "It's obviously great to win again in Clios, Sam did a good job and our gamble with the wets paid off. When it rained heavier he was able to move up the order and with some of the others running on slicks that played into our hands.
"We're disappointed for Mike and James, Mike just got caught out early on and James' steering snapped a couple of laps from the end after he'd had a lot of contact on the first lap. They both deserved more from the race so hopefully they'll have better luck tomorrow."
Ritter takes impressive top five in G50 Cup at Donington With clashing events this weekend, due to the ELF Renault Clio Cup's slot on the World Series by Renault package at Silverstone, TCR's operation has been split across two venues for the first time with the team's Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup squad running at Donington Park in its regular place on the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship support bill.
Joachim Ritter emerged from today's 23rd round of the G50 Cup season as the best placed TCR driver, the Swiss-based racer producing a fantastic performance to take a competitive top five finish by keeping championship leader Frank Wrathall at bay.
Delivering one of his best drives of the season, Ritter slipped to 11th place early on while avoiding a multi-car tangle at the chicane on the first lap but moved into the top 10 ahead of a two lap Safety Car period. Following another accident, again at the chicane, on lap five Ritter made more progress and rose into the top six.
He then gained a further place on the final lap at Schwantz Curve when team-mate Carl Breeze, who had been running in the top three, suddenly slowed due to an electrical problem so Ritter took fifth and actuallythe points for fourth place with race winner Nigel Moore ineligible to score.
For Breeze, the first race of the weekend's triple-header turned into a nightmare having looked very positive early on. Although only qualifying seventh quickest, the erstwhile championship leader started four places ahead of chief rival Wrathall and after the second incident at the chicane he had risen into an unexpected second place.
Driving very well, the TCR ace looked on course to claim the full points with second on the road to pole-sitter Moore but on the penultimate lap he slipped to second as the problem started to rear its head and on the last lap he lost all pace -- eventually finishing in 13th position. As Wrathall inherited sixth place -- and the points for fifth -- Breeze is now 23 points adrift on overall scores.
"Joachim did a great job today, his qualifying time was good and he raced really well to stay ahead of Frank (Wrathall) and the others", said Brookes, "We're so disappointed for Carl though, he'd done brilliantly to come through to second but the electrical problem was just one of those things -- that's motor racing sometimes unfortunately."
Rounds 24 and 25 of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup will take place at 10.05 and 15.05 tomorrow, Sunday, 19th September, at Donington Park. The 18th round of the ELF Renault Clio Cup, meanwhile, will get underway at 16.45 at Silverstone's Grand Prix Circuit.
-source: total control racing
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