WHORTON-EALES DEFIANT DESPITE ROCKINGHAM SETBACK
Picture Credit: Kingsley Newman
For Immediate Release
Shenstone’s Ant Whorton-Eales is not downbeat despite a disappointing weekend at Rockingham last weekend. Whorton-Eales, 18, saw his Rookie Cup lead in the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup disappear following his first retirement of the season. Whorton-Eales has pledged that he will come back even stronger from the setback, as the season comes to an exciting climax.
The weekend saw a mixture of weather conditions, with torrential rain being an extra factor. The first practice session on Friday saw mixed conditions with the session starting dry before the rain arrived. Whorton-Eales, was not on the track at the best of the conditions and as a result could not improve on his time of 1:32.219, which put him in 17th.
The second session saw heavy rain and was heavily disrupted, as three red flags were flown, as drivers struggled with the conditions. BRDC Rising Star, Whorton-Eales, was not one of these and was consistently at the top end of the timing sheets. The end result saw him in 4th position, with a time of 1:42.309. It was a good start to the weekend.
Qualifying arrived on Saturday and it was a clear, dry track which greeted the drivers for their 30 minute session. Whorton-Eales started the session strongly and after the first ten minute run of the session, found himself in second place behind experienced Westbourne Motorsport team mate, James Colburn. Westbourne locked out the front row of the grid to the delight of the team. The second run saw Ant slowed down at the wrong moments on track by slower drivers and as a result couldn’t improve on his time and went down to 8th place,
Whorton-Eales improved on his time on the final run, with a 1:30.222 but it wasn’t enough to see an improvement on the session and he finished in 8th place. Following the session Whorton-Eales was philosophical about how it had gone, ” I was hoping for a top six, however, I am right next to my Rookie Cup rival, Josh Cook. Traffic didn’t help me, I caught James Dixon around the back section and Vic Covey at Tarzan, on two of my better laps which cost me some crucial tenths. Rockingham is one of my favourite tracks as it has a good mixture, I particularly enjoy the back section. The Rookie Cup is my main priority now for the rest of the season. Hopefully we can build on this tomorrow and get some good results”
The first race on Sunday, in the dry, would see a major blow for Whorton-Eales after being involved in contact on the exit of the hairpin, whilst fighting with Stefan Hodgetts for 6th position. Whorton-Eales had dropped back to 10th at the end of the first lap. Following a coming together between Josh Files and team mate Colburn, he was up to 8th. Whorton-Eales then found himself in a battle with Mike Bushell, which he came out on top by the end of lap 11 and was charging towards the pack including Hodgetts, Adam Bonham and Cook. The incident on the penultimate lap saw Whorton-Eales pick up his first no score of the season and with the car carrying some sizeable damage the race was on to get him out for the second race.
Race two saw pouring rain to the extent that the race was started behind the safety car. With the SSFT, One-Lux and Westbourne Motors backed driver being good at starts, it was a decision which didn’t favour Whorton-Eales. After two laps of safety car, the field was released. The first lap saw another setback for Whorton-Eales as he slid wide at Tarzan. Whorton-Eales did an outstanding job to keep the car out of the gravel and to keep going but this was at the result of losing seven places as he fell down to 16th position, following his grassy excursion.
Lap seven, saw Whorton-Eales gain to places at the expense of William Davison and Rob Smith, as he moved up into 14th. By the end of the race Whorton-Eales had picked up another two positions and would finish in 12th place, getting himself nine points in the process.
Whorton-Eales was disappointed with how Sunday went, ” The results didn’t match the potential we had this weekend and that is disappointing for me. The race one incident is one that could have been avoided, but these things happen in racing sometimes but it has cost me some important points at this stage of the season. Race two, the slide at Tarzan was costly for me, it was the first lap after the safety car and it just shows how the slightest amount of grip loss in the rain can change the car’s behaviour. I didn’t give up though and took more cars, the way I saw it was places equal points, each car in front of me was extra points. The Rookie Cup is still all to play for, with the unpredictability of Clio Cup racing. It is important for me to go out there and do the best I can. This weekend showed that retirement can be just round the corner, if Josh has a DNF in any of the last four races and I can keep myself out of trouble and high up in the points it is all to play for and tight again. I am not giving up in the slightest, I want to be the 2012 Rookie Cup champion and will do all I can to make that happen. I would like to thank the professionalism and expertise of the Westbourne mechanics to get my car repaired and in a good shape for race two. I would also like to thank my sponsors, SSFT, One-Lux and Westbourne Motors for backing me.”
The Clio Cup is back next weekend at Silverstone on the weekend of the 6th/7th of October. Josh Cook currently leads the Rookie Cup with a 31 point lead. However, Ant Whorton-Eales is determined to force the issue right to the wire at Brands Hatch on the prestigious Grand Prix circuit at the end of October in his quest to clinch the Rookie Cup title.
Dan Blake
Media Liaison, Westbourne Motorsport