by Kingsley Newman
James Colburn had a repeat performance of Donington Park last weekend at Thruxton Circuit in Rounds 5 and 6 of the Clio Cup UK by scoring another brace of top eight finishes.
Hoping to repeat his performance at Thruxton last year where he won both races in torrential rain, James headed into qualifying with high hopes, but could only manage 7th and 3rd for the two rounds after a red flag halted proceedings in the 30 minute qualifying session late on.
In the first race of the weekend, James made a good start up a few places, but an ambitious overtake went wrong and resulted in contact for the Worthing teenager, causing him considerable understeer for the remainder of the race and losing top end speed which, at the fastest circuit in the UK, isn’t ideal and left Colburn as a sitting duck for overtakes. James finished 7th.
The second race was an opposite to the first, where James suffered from wheel spin on the start and succumbed a few places on the first lap and was still struggling with the earlier understeer problems. James held on despite the ongoing issues with the car and finished 8th.
The championship now heads into a 5 week break, and James, while disappointed the last two championship weekends have not gone his way, is still considering himself a championship contender “It only takes one bad weekend in this championship and it could all change, hopefully I’ve had mine and now it’s time for my rivals to have one!”