Devon Modell extends his streak of top ten finishes in the Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup at a weather contrasting Oulton Park this weekend (7-8 June).
A pre-event torrential downpour left Oulton Park resembling a lake more than a circuit, which in turn limited running for Britain’s premier one-make series’ qualifying session on Saturday (7 June) morning.
With rain falling horizontally and fans hiding under umbrellas, there was no place to hide for the Clio drivers as they ventured out onto the saturated track to set a competitive lap time in a bid of lining up pole for Rounds 7 and 8.
Many drivers found their cars a handful and struggled for grip, but Modell was quick to adapt to the conditions and was running as high as third for much of the 20-minute session, before an inevitable red flag was waved for Team Pryo’s stricken Mike Bushell.
Upon the restart, the heavens opened once again, dumping buckets of rain onto the circuit leaving a great deal of unpredictability for the rest of the session.
The British GT racer, who claimed a race win and a podium here in April, finished the session eighth with a time of 2m07.212s due to a late flurry of fast laps.
Although the rain had been consistently falling throughout much of the day, washing away any rubber laid down by Friday’s Free Practice events, the sun broke through the clouds to leave a drying race line in time for the afternoon’s race.
The Maidstone-domiciled driver was quick off the line as the 13-car field sprinted down to Old Hall Corner for the first time and was looking to climb the leader board, but was unable to make a pass and held eighth position as they ran down towards Dentons.
Before the drivers could complete their opening tour of the 2.69mile International Circuit, the Safety Car was deployed when Ash Hand was pushed wide and into the barriers at The Avenue.
Upon the restart, Modell was quick to latch onto the back of a five-car train building behind SV Racing’s Alex Morgan.
The train continued to roll for several laps, but Morgan was able to make his Clio as wide as possible up until the chequered flag as the procession behind finished in the same positions as when it left the station.
An eighth place finish extends Modell’s run of top ten finishes, a feat that has yet to be broken this season.
“We started well on Friday and we were looking at a positive weekend,” said Modell. “But I was unfortunately tagged in Saturday’s opening race, which sent me in a spin, but thankfully I was able to keep it out of the barriers and continue racing.
“We have yet to drive the cars in extreme wet weather, so it was a steep learning curve going out there, but we didn’t quite have the pace, as once you drop off the back of the pack it becomes really difficult to claw back lost ground. It was quite feisty in the mid-field and certainly put on a good show for the spectators.”
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