Brands Hatch is in the books and it saw a promising start by 20Ten Racing’s Jordan Stilp, who finished fourth in the one and only Renault UK Clio Cup race of the weekend, a result showing great promise for a successful year ahead.
After qualifying in fourth, Jordan lined up on the grid for the first race of the year on Saturday. However, it was a short lived event with a multi-car accident, including Stilp and his team-mate Mark Howard, bringing out the red flag and causing the race to be postponed until Donington Park. Happily, no drivers were badly hurt although they were certainly shaken up. Stilp told me afterwards:
“It was madness but typical of the first race of the year and I hope everybody is a lot calmer on Sunday. It was a racing incident but a lot of teams including our own were busy on Saturday night repairing the damage.”
So to Sunday and what effectively became round one of the Series in front of the TV cameras. Jordan had a very quick start off the line but as ever at Brands Hatch he was “fighting” for space at Paddock Hill Bend, meaning he dropped back to sixth.
Stilp said: “I was struggling for race pace to be honest having not been able to do much testing due to budget. Having said that the car was reliable and ran really well on a circuit I’ve never enjoyed much luck on.”
As the race continued a two car battle at the front between Ant Whorton-Eales and Ashley Sutton thrilled spectators and after veteran Paul Rivett dropped out, Jordan found himself in a solid fourth place. As Ash Hand made it a three car battle Stilp was catching the top three quickly but ran out of time.
Whorton-Eales and Sutton battled with Hand, waiting to pick up the pieces of any wreck and it was a tough but ultimately fair move by Whorton-Eales on the very last bend that won the race much to the anger of Sutton. It was a Bristol Motor Speedway-type move by Whorton-Eales and in a live TV interview Sutton was most unhappy. Jordan was the first to congratulate the winner and his view of the incident.
Stilp said: “To be honest Sutton left the door open for Ant and he had every right to go for the gap. To me it was a racing incident and I hope they just shake hands and get on with it!”
So to Donington Park a circuit that Jordan has always done well on before. With three races the action will be fast and furious.
