SV Racing (SVR) concluded the fourth instalment of both the Renault UK Clio Cup and Michelin Gientta GT4 Supercup at its home circuit, Oulton Park, with a second consecutive podium for Ant Whorton-Eales, who retains the lead of the Drivers’ standings (7 June).
Having snatched pole position during the latter stages of qualifying on Saturday (6 June), Whorton-Eales would go on to finish second behind eventual race winner, Paul Rivett, to collect his sixth silverware piece of the season.
Lining-up alongside polesitter Ash Hand for Sunday’s race on the cleaner side of the circuit, Whorton-Eales got the better of starts to head the field through the narrow Old Hall Corner and across the line at the conclusion of the opening tour.
With Sutton filling his mirrors, the Team Pyro driver tried to take the race reins from Whorton-Eales during the early stages of the race, trying an opportunistic move round the outside of the Litchfield driver at Lodge Corner, only for the door to shut firmly, causing him to run wide and relinquish his position to teammate Hand.
Hand would move into the lead of the race at the expense of Whorton-Eales at the Island Bend hairpin, only for the SVR driver to take the lead back after contact between the two at Cascades the following lap.
With a retirement for Sutton a handful of laps from the end due to heavy front-end damage, Whorton-Eales would go on to drive the widest fourth generation Clio on track to claim his third win of the season, only for a Stewards enquiry after race proceedings saw the him driver handed a time penalty of fourth tenths of a second.
Nonetheless, a second place finish is enough for Whorton-Eales to retain his lead in the Drivers’ standings from Team Pyro’s Hand and Sutton.
“We made a few changes to the car overnight, including a clutch change, which saw us shoot off the line like a rocket and into the lead,” said Whorton-Eales. “In my opinion, I was pushed wide at the hairpin, which allowed Ash Hand to slip by into the lead. I then went to make a move on him at Cascades, where he moved across and we touched, which gave me back the lead, but the positions have been switched round following a Stewards enquiry.
“Although it wasn’t the perfect ending to the weekend and wasn’t an eventful race for me, it was certainly a great UK Clio Cup race and am happy to have stood on the podium twice and to still be leading the Drivers’ standings.”
Having rounded out the top ten in Race 1, Jack Mitchell started from third position and was pushed wide during the opening few corners, dropping to sixth position in behind Rivett.
Following the news of Sutton’s retirement, Mitchell was promoted to the head of the Graduate Cup category and continued to hound Rivett lap-after-lap, before showing a great turn of speed and knowledge to negotiate his way past the three-time champion at the Hislops chicane.
The youngster positioned his Clio perfectly to fend off a returning charge, only to be pushed wide on the final lap, dropping him to seventh position across the line. A second place finish in the Graduate Cup category sees him maintain the runner-up position in the standings, as well as reduce Sutton’s lead to just 14-points.
Despite bogging down on the line with wheelspin, followed by an early gear change in Saturday’s race, Mitchell Hale would later scythe his way through the field to cross the line inside the top ten to position himself eighth on the starting grid for the weekend’s second and final Ginetta GT4 Supercup race.
Despite wheelspinning off the line once again in Sunday’s race, Hale positioned his Ginetta GT4 perfectly to maintain his starting position, as the 18-car field charged towards Turn 1, before tucking himself under the rear wing of Recce Somerfield.
Driving on the ragged edge, Hale tried to hustle Somerfield into a mistake, but unfortunately made one himself dipping two wheels onto the grass, which entail pulled him wide and allowed Will Burns to slip by.
Looking to make amends, Hale made an opportunistic dive up the inside of Tom Wrigley the following lap at Old Hall Corner to move back into eighth position, before making another mistake in the dying embers of the race saw him conclude the weekend’s action in ninth position.
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