by Kingsley Newman
James Colburn was right in the thick of the action and battled hard for some well-earned points at the Donington Park Circuit in Derby last weekend, finishing inside the top 8 in both races.
Coming into the weekend with a faultless performance three weeks before at Brands Hatch, James was keen to pick up where he left off. Unfortunately things did not go to plan for the 20 year old Worthing driver as he struggled for pace in the 30 minute qualifying session, managing to put his Westbourne Motorsport prepped Clio only 9th and 7th on the grid for Rounds 3 and 4 of the Renault Clio Cup UK. “I had hardly any front end grip” as Colburn explains “The track was really quite warm and because we have only been able to test the new Dunlop Tyres in cold conditions, we struggled with the setup so I couldn’t be as far up as I wanted to be.”
The first race of James’ weekend was rather uneventful thanks to a first-lap incident in which he was tapped from behind causing damage to the car, sacrificing speed on the straights and on some of the corners. Despite this minor setback, James battled on trying desperately to fend off fellow Graduate Cup contender Nutbrown from behind, but eventually got pipped on the penultimate lap, finishing 7th and adding 16 points to his Championship tally.
The second and final race of Colburn’s weekend was the completely opposite of the first where James had it all to do after running wide on two occasions in the first lap, as he describes “I was hung out to dry the first time and made a mistake on the exit of Coppice running into the Gravel before re-joining the track way down the grid.” After the first lap, James had plummeted from 7th to 20th and with 13 laps to go – James proved why he is a championship contender by making up no less than 12 places; including three in one lap; with some daring, well-executed overtakes to finish 8th and add yet more precious points for his Championship Bid. “I was determined to make up for my mistakes” said Colburn, “the team had found a sweet spot in the car and I was able to pump in some super lap times in traffic to help me over-take, eventually having better pace than the leaders but it was too little too late to make an impact up front.”
James leaves the East Midlands Circuit in 4th place in the Championship 27 points adrift of the leader, and is tied for the lead in the Graduates cup. Westbourne Motorsport also drop one place in the Team Trophy.
Next on the Calendar in two weeks’ time is the fastest race circuit in the UK at Thruxton, Hampshire where James did the double and secured two victories in the pouring rain, and his only of the season. Colburn hopes to repeat that result from last year as he tells us “we were quickest again there a few weeks ago for the pre-season testing, and now we have got our set-up optimised for hot conditions, I’m definitely hoping to get back onto the podium come rain or shine.”