by Kingsley Newman
James Colburn took two top 9 finishes in rounds 9 and 10 of the Renault Clio Cup UK at the Darlington Based Circuit, Croft last weekend.
Heading into qualifying, James was not happy with the car during the previous two free practice sessions so some tweaks to the setup improved his Westbourne Motorsport liveried Clio’s pace and qualified 5th and 4th fastest for the two races respectively, his best qualifying since the opening rounds of the Championship at Brands Hatch. “We were off the pace during free practice so I made an adjustment on the car” as Colburn explains “After the change the car felt a lot better so was chuffed with qualifying, it should have been better but I made a mistake on my hot lap so the pace was there for the front row for sure.”
The first race of the weekend was an eventful one for James, as the race was red flagged a few laps in to repair the tyre barrier before it could get underway. Before the stoppage however James had made a good start and had made up a few places but slight contact between himself and Paul Rivett meant James had to cut the chicane and lose some places, whilst also putting his steering out as a result of the contact. “I’m a little bit disappointed with the result on that one.” Colburn said “I should of finished higher up but we made the most of a bad situation with the steering so can’t complain too much”.
The second race of the weekend had James spending the majority of the race at the sharp end, battling for the lead and fighting for his first podium position since Brands Hatch back in April. James again made a great start off the line and made up two positions to head into the first corner 2nd behind Stefan Hodgetts. The top 4 cars broke away from the rest of the pack and there was an almighty tussle for the top 3 podium positions which went on until the very last corner of the race. Colburn could not find a past Stefan though and also faced increased pressure from the cars behind. A slight lockup on the penultimate lap pushed the Worthing racer wide allowing Ant Whorton-Eales through into 2nd place. It was on the last corner of the last lap where James didn’t get a good exit and was pipped to 3rd place by championship leader Josh files by less than 2 thousands of a second, leaving James still seeking that elusive podium place.
The Clio Cup enjoys a summer break now before returning to the Norfolk Circuit of Snetterton on the 4th August, where James obtained his first Clio Cup pole position back in 2011 and is hoping to replicate the same they arrive in 6 weeks’ time. “I’m really confident about Snetterton” said Colburn, “we had a good test day there before the season and can hopefully get back on the podium.”