WITH TOP FIVE FOR ROWBOTTOM AND TOP SIX FOR STREATHER
Streather maintains sixth in title race with double top six at CroftNewlywed Rowbottom celebrates nuptials with season-best fifth Finesse Motorsport closes back in on Entrants’ Trophy top four
Renault UK Clio Cup squad Finesse Motorsport produced two highly competitive showings at Croft Circuit near Darlington over the weekend, 18th/19th June, with a very healthy haul of championship points for Paul Streather and Daniel Rowbottom in rounds nine and 10 of the season.
Streather, who was determined to bounce back from a troubling virus which derailed his Oulton Park weekend a fortnight ago, sliced through the order in race one on Saturday from 14th on the grid – a result of being badly baulked in qualifying – to post an excellent top six result. Backing that up with another sixth place in the televised second contest on Sunday, he retained sixth in the points.
Team-mate Rowbottom, who got married the day before pre-event testing, celebrated his nuptials with a season-best top five finish in round nine and the addition of ninth place in round 10 means he heads into the summer break still holding 10th position in the driver standings.
“Obviously we wanted to be back on the podium this weekend but we’re happy with the pace and to get both cars into the top six”, said team principal Neil Giddings, “Qualifying set the scene for us, the traffic was a problem but Paul and Dan overcame that and raced really well.
“To come through from 14th to sixth in the first race was a really strong effort from Paul, exactly what we know he can do, and Dan taking his best finish of the year in the same race was fantastic from him. We’re all looking forward to the summer break now, but looking forward even more to the next rounds at Snetterton at the end of July.”
Qualifying proved frustrating for Finesse with the significant impact of traffic. Rowbottom was the fastest of the two drivers with the ninth best time, just 0.5 seconds shy of pole, while Streather – who had both of his quickest laps baulked badly – had to settle for 14th on the grid for race one.
They each made very good starts to round nine on Saturday afternoon, Rowbottom smartly moving up into fifth place and Michael Smith Switchgear and AVW Fabrications-backed Streather sensationally scything his way through into ninth through the first few turns with great awareness.
Rowbottom, pressuring Charlie Ladell out of Tower and into the Jim Clark Esses, searched for a way into the top four and although Ladell got out of shape into the complex the Finesse driver wasn’t quite able to get the nose of his Clio alongside.
As Rowbottom continued to turn the screw, Ladell’s defence meant the pack behind closed up significantly. Sandwiched between Ladell and Ant Whorton-Eales, Rowbottom’s EcoMotive liveried Clio then fell victim to an attack from the latter into Tower on lap five and so slipped to sixth.
Streather, meanwhile, continued to make progress and on lap eight at Clervaux he moved past Senna Proctor into the top eight, Proctor coming unstuck after trying to usurp Rowbottom from sixth, and Streather then grabbed seventh too.
The team-mates then gained a place each when Ladell had an excursion, moving into fifth and sixth respectively, and they ran pretty much nose-to-tail to the chequered flag on lap 12 to cap a very strong pair of performances.
Ahead of round 10 on Sunday afternoon, broadcast live on ITV4, light spots of rain threatened but didn’t turn into anything of any significance. Streather, from ninth on the grid, and Rowbottom, who started in 12th place, both made clean starts with the latter climbing into 11th on the first lap.
From third position back, a long train of Clio Cup cars ran line astern and then, on lap four, race leader Paul Rivett slowed which elevated Streather and Rowbottom into eighth and 10th places respectively. With nothing to choose between more than half a dozen drivers, the pack behind the podium places circulated largely nose-to-tail but as more rain started to fall opportunities came.
Streather, judging the grip levels better than a couple of rivals, moved into seventh on lap nine and then grabbed sixth on the run into Clervaux at the start of lap 10. Proctor attempted to re-challenge Streather into Tower, edging the Finesse car wide off the circuit, but Streather hit back superbly into the daunting Jim Clark Esses to re-take sixth brilliantly.
Rowbottom, meanwhile, held his top 10 placing before moving up into ninth at the end of lap 10 at the hairpin. Remaining in those placings to the flag on lap 12, Streather closed to within just 0.5 seconds of Whorton-Eales and Ladell on the drag to the line. Noticeably, Streather and Rowbottom’s respective best lap times were identical – 1m33.646 seconds.
Paul Streather:“We’ve had two good races this weekend and I’m happy with how everything has gone on the whole, especially after the disaster in qualifying when we were so badly held up. You only get two laps on these Dunlop tyres, and both were ruined by other drivers. I’m pleased with two top sixes in the races though, especially the first from 14th – we’ve taken good points for the championship.”
Daniel Rowbottom: “It was a good day on Saturday, the race went well but we lost the front-end [grip] from about lap four – I think we would have been able to challenge for the podium without that but couldn’t quite hang in there. Fifth is OK, it’s still not where we want to be, we really should be challenging for wins as the race pace is there, but we’re definitely getting there.”
Finesse Motorsport now has a six week break from action as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship package takes a lengthy summer sojourn. Rounds 11 and 12 of the season will take place at Snetterton 300 Circuit, the team’s home track, on 30th/31st July.
Provisional 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd10):6th Paul Streather, 174pts; 10th Daniel Rowbottom, 118pts; 18th Jake Giddings, 31pts
Provisional 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Entrants’ Trophy Standings (after Rd10):5th Finesse Motorsport, 286pts
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