Kent driver Ed Pead scored a superb 2nd place at his home circuit of Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday to increase his overall points lead in the 2003 ELF CLIO RENAULTsport UK CUP.

Qualifying for round 15 of the Championship took place on Sunday afternoon, and Ed started the session on old tyres. It was looking very good as he was in 2nd place for a while, but after he pitted for fresh rubber the times just didn’t come down as he expected. “I knew that I needed to be in the 52’s to be on the front row, and although I did three consecutive laps that were all 53 dead, it wasn’t enough. So I’m a little bit disappointed.”

With his main rival for the Championship, Jonathan Fildes taking 3rd on the grid, Ed was going to have to work hard in the race to hang on to that top spot in the Championship “The most important thing for the race is not to get boxed in at the first corner – I’ve normally been on the outside of the grid here, so I need to get a good start and hopefully make up a couple of places into Paddock.”

As the lights went green, Ed got away well, and on the run up to Druids he had managed to get his Mardi Gras Motorsport car alongside Fildes, but on the exit of the corner he was tapped from behind. In a superb display of car control, Ed held on to the slide and managed to re-join the track, where he was possibly a little surprised to find that he was still in 4th place. This was due to the chaos that was happening behind involving the current champion and series returnee Paul Rivett who had been hit by Nick Adcock. This set off a chain reaction that saw 6 cars stranded and the end result of which was a red flag to allow the wreckage to be cleared away.

The grid re-formed with several gaps - the most notable of which was the front row place where Rivett should have been. At the re-start, Ed was up into 3rd by the first corner, and on lap 2 he had to take avoiding action as, on the approach to Druids, Fildes lost control. This was good news for Ed, because when Fildes finally got going again he was last. Ed had kept his cool while the drama happened around him, and was hard on the heels of Eoin Murray for the lead. He was not going to give up on the chance of a home win easily, but in the end he had to be content with picking up the 28 points for 2nd place. “I was pushing really hard but I had a big slide at Graham Hill and lost about 4 seconds to Eoin on one lap, so I decided to back off and save my tyres for the next qualifying session at Donington.”

With Fildes finishing in a distant 11th place, Ed’s lead in the Championship has been extended to 17 points, but with dropped scores likely to play a part in the final outcome, he cannot afford to relax for a minute!

Next race Donington Park 6th/7th September.

 

 

 

 

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