Ed Pead came to Donington Park in Leicestershire with every intention of increasing his overall points lead in the 2003 ELF CLIO RENAULTsport UK CUP
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However, events conspired against him and he left the circuit on Sunday wishing that he had never been there (claiming to have been on holiday in Mexico would have been a better option!)

Qualifying was somewhat disappointing; with the session being interrupted by red flags while the stricken car of Rob Cullum was retrieved from a dangerous position in the gravel at Redgate. The disjointed session left Ed with the prospect of starting round 16 from 9th on the grid and round 17 from 6th. Just to make things worse for Ed, his only realistic rival for the title, Jonathon Fildes managed to snatch a pair of front-row places in the dying seconds of the session.

The first race got underway, and as the field went down The Craner Curves for the first time, Ed was alongside Martin Brackenbury as he tried to make up places. There was chaos as the pair made contact, which resulted in Ed’s Mardi Gras Motorsport car retiring on the spot. In the melee that followed, several other cars were also eliminated. Ed’s bad day wasn’t over yet – Fildes went on to take the race win and in doing so, he took over the lead in the Championship with 391 points to Ed’s 376. However, when dropped scores were taken into account, the lead was a mere 3 points.

Race 2 of the weekend got off to a better start with Ed keeping it clean through the first corner to hold onto his starting position. Fildes was leading, but things were looking good for Ed when his rival went off into the gravel at Redgate and rejoined in 16th place.

Unfortunately there was an incident at The Craner Curves again, and it forced several people out of the race including Brackenbury and Colum McCabe. McCabe’s car was badly damaged and in a very dangerous place, so the Safety Car was deployed whilst it was removed. This gave Fildes the opportunity to pit and change a damaged wheel without losing too much ground. The leader at this point was Eoin Murray from Oli Wilkinson with Ed in 5th.

The rest of the race consisted of Ed trying just about everything he could to pass Nick Adcock for 4th, but then a recovering Fildes had come back to 6th, and Ed was smart enough the know that a failed move on Adcock could cost him very dear, so he just concentrated on maintaining the gap to his Championship rival. At the end of the race, the Championship positions were Fildes 411 (383) and Ed 396 (380) so the Championship really was anyone’s for the taking in the final round at Oulton Park in a couple of weeks.

However, that was not the end of Ed’s weekend from Hell. The Clerk of the Course excluded him from the result of round 17 after deciding that he was responsible for the incident that put Brackenbury out of the race. An appeal was made to the Stewards of the Meeting, but they upheld the exclusion. This meant that Ed would effectively have to drop 3 race scores instead of 2, as exclusions cannot be dropped from a drivers’ season total. As far as the Championship was concerned, this handed the title to Fildes as the gap was now beyond Ed’s reach.

It was a bitterly disappointing way to end what has been an incredibly competitive challenge for the 2003 Championship, and Ed commented afterwards “Unfortunately the stewards upheld the decision of the Clerk of the Course and no further appeal is taking place. Both the whole team and I are absolutely gutted. It puts us into a fight for second place in the Championship and as I'm only 6 points in front of Murray I will be on a mission at Oulton!”

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