Scuderia Vittoria redeemed itself at Snetterton, with Stefan Hodgetts surging to a sensational second place in Round 12 of the 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup after a tumultuous start to the weekend (4 August).
A positive day of testing on Friday boded well for the rest of the weekend at Snetterton. Hodgetts, backed by the KX Akademy, topped the times in practice, although his Scuderia Vittoria stable-mates also showed strong hands in changeable conditions.
However, below par qualifying performances left the seven-driver line-up out of position and vulnerable to incidents in the races. From eighth on the grid in Round 11, Hodgetts was a casualty of the traditional first-corner skirmish, damaged tracking eventually leading to his demise.
The Redditch-domiciled driver returned to the fray with renewed vigour in Round 12 on Sunday (4 August), launching off the line from seventh to second in less than half a lap. He maintained position, staunchly defending against Paul Rivett, to claim his fifth podium of the year – three race wins and two second places.
“We had a bad run in qualifying and the start to Round 11 was pretty terrible too,” said Hodgetts. “But I got a fantastic start today and I made up quite a few places in a couple of corners. It’s nice to redeem myself and reward Scuderia Vittoria and our sponsors, KX and One Call Insurance, with another podium. But the win is dedicated to Scuderia Vittoria’s mechanic, Nathan Lund, who has been seriously ill this year.”
Devon Modell – side-lined by a dramatic opening-lap collision with the barriers at Croft’s previous round – bounced back in fine style at Snetterton, finishing Round 11 as the lead Scuderia Vittoria driver in sixth place.
The resilient youngster drove a mature and considered race, staying out of trouble to cross the line in sixth ahead of his KX Akademy-backed team-mates Ant Whorton-Eales and Mike Bushell.
“I’ve definitely made progress this weekend,” said Modell. “I made a cracking start and picked up the pieces as a few cars ahead of me tangled at the Montreal hairpin. It was all about keeping my nose clean and letting everyone else have their crashes, although Round 12 demonstrated that you can’t always avoid incidents – I got turned around on the first lap and no longer had the pace to improve on 14th.”
Whorton-Eales surged up from fifth to second away from the line in Round 11, but was deposed by Team Pyro’s Josh Files before the completion of lap one. The Lichfield racer drove a super-defensive race and looked secure in third with fellow KX Akademy racer Mike Bushell shadowing him.
However, a bruising collision ultimately relegated him to seventh place, denying Scuderia Vittoria of critical points.
Whorton-Eales ended Round 12 on the outskirts of the top ten, this time behind Bushell but ahead of rookie team-mate Josh Wakefield in 11th.
“I got a decent start and went up on the inside at the first corner, but the track narrows and I had to back off in avoidance of Rivett, which opened the door to a few drivers,” said Whorton-Eales. “I fell to the tail end of the top ten and it was quite a lonely race after that. We have had a pretty tough weekend but I take some consolation from the fact that I finished both races.”
Finlay Crocker showed a great deal of promise on Friday but was unable to translate that raw speed into results, finishing a lowly 20th in Round 11 on Saturday (3 August) and retiring from Round 12. Two DNFs also prevented the One Call Insurance-backed Ronnie Klos from utilising the pace he showed during Friday’s test sessions.
Scuderia Vittoria Director, Danny Buxton, said: “This weekend promised so much and I’m delighted, if not relieved, to come away from Snetterton with another podium result. The pace all seven drivers showed on Friday was phenomenal, especially as conditions were so tricky. But qualifying didn’t go our way and we were right in the thick of the action during the races.
“Stefan’s drive to second was stunning and it was a nice gesture to dedicate the result to our mechanic Nathan, who has been seriously ill. Devon yet again drove a mature race to take sixth in race one. Ant was a blameless victim in the incident that denied him his second podium result and Josh drove incredibly well all weekend. It was a shame that both Finlay and Ronnie were prevented from translating the pace they showed in practice into results, but I’m hopeful for the remainder of the year.”
Rounds 13 and 14 of the Renault UK Clio Cup are scheduled to take place at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Northamptonshire in five weeks’ time (12-13 September).
For more information on Scuderia Vittoria’s racing activities, please ‘like’ the team’sFacebook page or follow @ScudVittoria on Twitter.