EYE-CATCHING SEASON BEST QUALIFYING FOR PIDGLEY AT SILVERSTONE PLUS FASTEST LAP IN FIRST RACE OF WEEKEND UNDERLINES TRUE PACE
• Ollie Pidgley matches career-best Clio Cup top 10 in Rd16 at Silverstone • MAC Tools driver shines in testing and qualifying with exceptional pace • Season-best qualifying of seventh backed up by fastest lap in Rd15
Ollie Pidgley enjoyed one of the most competitive outings of his maiden season in the high-profile Renault UK Clio Cup at Silverstone National Circuit over the weekend, 17th/18h September, with a season-best qualifying, top 10 race result and fastest lap.
Going on to conclude the penultimate event of the campaign fourth in the Graduate Cup standings, the 19-year-old also closed on the top 12 of the outright championship and will go into next month’s season finale at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit only 12 points adrift.
“Our pace has been really good this weekend, right from the start”, commented Pidgley, “We didn’t do anything differently, I prepared as I normally would and, for once, most things went to plan. This sort of performance, with the fastest lap and the strong qualifying, has been possible most of the season but we’ve just had one or two issues along the way which have held us back a bit.”
Making a huge impression from the outset during pre-event testing at the Northamptonshire track, the MAC Tools-supported racer improved on an already strong ninth best time in session one with an outstanding top three performance in session two – just 0.1 seconds shy of the top of the times.
That was by no means a flash in the pan, either, as Pidgley went on to lap a season-best seventh fastest in the drying qualifying period on Saturday morning, only 0.2 seconds outside the pole position time. As a result of an unfortunate penalty from the previous event at Rockingham, though, the Wiltshire youngster actually had to begin round 15 from 10th on the grid.
Annoyingly for Pidgley, the opening lap of Saturday afternoon’s race was a robust affair and he was bundled back to 16th position as a result of avoiding an incident. Moving up into the top 15 on lap three, he piled huge pressure on Rory Collingbourne but there was no way by lap after lap.
With absolutely nothing to separate the pair, Pidgley confirmed his capability with the fastest lap of the race on the seventh tour – a time of 1m05.111 seconds – and he continued to swarm all over his rival’s rear bumper. Making the breakthrough on lap 10, he assumed 14th position but then had to watch his mirrors with Collingbourne attempting to re-challenge.
Pidgley’s race one frustration was then compounded when he was hit with a five second penalty for a track limits infringement which dropped him to 16th position on corrected times. Eventually taking the flag 14th on the road, 16th with the penalty and fifth in the Graduate Cup class, nobody was able to match his best lap time which meant he secured two bonus points in the championship.
Starting Sunday’s contest, which was screened live on ITV4, from the fifth row of the grid in 10th place, the Ciceley Motorsport driver maintained position off the start but then slipped to 14th spot when avoiding an out-of-shape car at Luffield.
Battling his way through into 11th place in double-quick time, Pidgley was elbowed back to 13th on lap three but he wasn’t to be denied. Pressuring Chris Smiley ahead, he managed to move past his rival and closed on Jake Giddings during the closing stages. Although taking the flag just outside the top 10, a penalty for Giddings elevated Pidgley into 10th position.
“Both races had an element of being in the wrong place at the wrong time”, explained Pidgley, “In race one, when [Lee] Pattison went off at the start I had to slow down to avoid him and everyone just went past around the outside. In race two, I made up a few places on the first lap but at Luffield [David] Dickenson had a slide and to avoid contact I had to slow again, so a couple got past.
“Overall, though, I’m happy with the weekend and it’s a good boost ahead of Brands Hatch. I’ve never done a lap on the GP circuit there, so it’ll all be completely new to me. I’ll do as much prep as possible, have a few trips to iZone, so we can try and hit the ground running.”
Pidgley’s maiden season in the British Touring Car Championship-supporting Clio Cup will reach its conclusion a fortnight from now, over the weekend 1st/2nd October, at Brands Hatch in Kent.
Provisional Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd16):16th Ollie Pidgley, 112pts
Provisional Renault UK Clio Cup Graduate Cup Standings (after Rd16):4th Ollie Pidgley, 325pts
