Brands Hatch Report
The final round of the Renault Clio Cup UK brought Rory Collingbourne and Team Cooksport to the world-famous Brands Hatch circuit, where the last meeting of this years championship was contested on the Grand Prix configuration. The Newport-based driver closed off his maiden campaign in the series in style with a brace of top ten finishes and a demonstration in race craft that left the 42,000 strong crowd track side plus millions watching at home impressed.
“I arrived ready to go and with a car that was being repaired anyway, so I had no worries on the side of damage.” recalled Rory “This meant there was no pressure from the point of keeping the car safe, so I could concentrate fully on racing and extracting the maximum from it over the weekend.”
Rory utilised both free practice sessions on Friday to familiarise himself with the notoriously challenging GP loop around the 2.30 mile circuit, with his consistent lap times representing both the pace of the car and driver, and a sound reliability ahead of what could prove to be a crucial weekend for Wales’ latest motorsport prospect in the standings.
“We spent the first section learning the track, particularly the Grand Prix section as I’ve never raced on it before.” commented Rory on the days work “I then went away and put a lot of work in with Josh Cook between then and qualifying and improved my time by over a second.”
This information would prove to be important on Saturday morning, although Rory finished a frustrating 12th after his fastest time was disallowed by the circuit officials for exceeding track limits, which even some of the BTCC drivers were falling foul of. Despite this, his best time of 1:40.499 put him in the mix with several of his regular competitors. His second fastest time, a 1:40.772, again placed him in 12th for Sunday’s live televised race, ensuring that once again Collingbourne would have to fight his way through the field to put his Team Cooksport prepared Clio where it deserved to be in the final two races of the campaign.
In the penultimate race on Saturday afternoon, Rory produced an impressive drive that saw him unlucky not to take his first podium finish. From the start, Collingbourne was able to capitalise, as he often does, on the poor starts of those around him and sat in 5th position as the cars finished their opening tour of the circuit behind the safety car. From the restart, Rory was able to pass both his namesake Rory Green and Tom Witts to move into the final podium position, but from there the job got difficult. A resurgent Ash Hand latched onto the back of Rory and, despite his best efforts, the championship contender slid through, before Rory’s team-mate George Jackson then also temporarily pushed him down the order. Collingbourne went back on the offensive and re-took the position from Jackson, but a five second penalty post-race from the stewards for exceeding the track limits meant that, whilst Collingbourne took the chequered flag in 4th, he was classified further back in 6th. Given the close and competitive nature of the series, the fact Rory was far enough in front to lose very little by this time penalty demonstrates the pace and maturity with which he raced.
“I made another good start, which is important as in this championship most of the positions are made up on the opening lap. I was slowed up on the quicker outside line out of Druids by one of the new guys into the series, obviously he wasn’t fully confident in the line he’d taken. But in a way that helped, it meant I missed most of the carnage up front and was able to capitalise on it.”
“Whilst it was disappointing to not hold onto the fourth, which would have equalled my best ever result in the series, I feel I showed people again what I’m capable of when given the opportunity. It was just a case of making good on my chance and it paid off, thankfully. To start 12th and finish 6th, regardless of the penalty, is an achievement in most people’s books.”
In front of a capacity crowd in favourable conditions on Sunday, Rory showcased his racecraft to the masses once more as he turned a negative situation on track into yet another solid top ten finish, and in doing so became the only driver in this years championship to finish every racing lap. On the opening lap, Rory took the quicker outside line into Druids, but he was collected by another of the weekend’s numerous newcomers into the series. Despite marshals indicating they were going to push Rory off the circuit, he was able to reset the systems onboard his Clio and rejoined the race under the safety car conditions. Watkins and Price were the first two victims to fall to a resurgent Collingbourne, who added Maybin, Butler and Sedgewick to his list after just another two racing laps, whilst the demise of Witts elevated Rory yet further into 11th. Three more retirements from the race then gave Rory the 8th position he never relinquished to the end, yet again demonstrating maturity as he kept his head whilst others fell by the wayside and concluded his first campaign with another solid finish.
“The marshals were indicating to me they were going to push me off the circuit” remembered Rory “and my dash kept telling me there was a system error. So I tried a full reboot and it came to life. Needless to say, I went for it! Once I’d caught everyone up it was a case, again, of just picking them off gradually as I moved through. Whilst it’s not an ideal way to race, and we could have been further up if not for the incident, it was a lot of fun and everything this year has been a learning experience, so it was nice to put some of things I’ve learnt to the test.”
In the final standings, Rory Collingbourne placed 6th with a total of 210 points, whilst in the Graduate Cup he claimed an impressive 3rd after taking 344 points from the seasons eighteen races. In the Entrants Trophy, Team Cooksport had to consolidate themselves with 3rd after narrowly missing out to WDE Motorsport on the runners-up slot, but Josh Cook’s outfit will be back gunning for the overall crown next season.
Although a first victory eluded Rory in his rookie season, his consistent pace and attitude have earned him many admirers in spectators and fellow competitors alike. The MSA Academy racer will now look to get a full seasons testing under his belt over the winter ready for a full assault on the championship crown when he returns next season.
“We’ll head off now and get some solid testing under our belts. I think I’ve learnt a lot this season, it’s been a fantastic experience and I’ve loved every minute of it. Massive thanks to all of my brilliant sponsors and supporters, and we’ll see you again next year for a proper crack at the overall championship crown!” concluded Collingbourne.
Many thanks to all of Rory’s sponsors and supporters for their fantastic backing this season. See you next Spring!
