Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup headed to Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, for rounds seventeen and eighteen.

This particular meeting was held on the 1.6 mile national circuit and would prove to provide some very close and exciting racing.

Qualifying at Silverstone for Ed Pead and Jonathan Adam could not have been more important. Pead needed podium finishes whilst all Adam needed was to finish, and we all know that starting mid-grid in the Clio Cup anything could happen, and the only way to ensure a clean start would be to start on the front row. Adam took pole position while Pead struggled a bit but managed to pull through towards the end finishing in fourth spot. Pead said, “I think we did the best we could but we will change the car for the race and get more speed”. The session ended with Jonathan Adam, Nick Adcock, Matt Allison and Ed Pead in the top four positions.

Race one ended as quickly as it began for Pead, as he was entering the first corner he was hit into a spin by Adam’s team-mate, Ben Winrow, but managed to pull himself straight only to be engulfed by the pack and find himself directly behind the spinning car of Brad Perrett; Pead took avoiding action and was collected by his team-mate, Steven Hunter. Pead headed into the pits for a touch of repair work and eventually finished in thirteenth position. Adam on the other hand had a faultless race, he led from start to finish and picked up his eighth win of the season. Pead said “This is what happens when you don’t start on the front row, although this is exactly what happened to me when I was at Croft. The corner was mine and I was hit from behind, it has practically ended my championship!”

Race two would prove to be somewhat different for Pead. Starting from grid six he had a lot of catching up to do to Adam; this was helped by Nick Adcock firing himself off on the green flag lap and hitting the wall, he was unable to take the start. Pead made a great start, moving straight into fourth, Tom Onslow-Cole had a moment out of the first corner and Pead managed to pass him for third heading into Becketts. Adam led at the end of lap one with Matt Allison in tow, Pead chased down the leading two and passed Allison on lap five. He began to chase after Adam but Allison hung on and Adam began to pull away slightly. It was Onslow-Cole who was now on the move, he passed Allison at Brooklands and caught up with Pead and on lap fifteen passed Pead at the same corner. Pead stayed with him and attempted to regain the position at the same spot but then ran wide and was back down to third. It still wasn’t over as Pead again lunged up the inside and was able to hold on to it this time. As the pair battled, Allison came into play, on the last lap Pead defended heavily into Brooklands which allowed Allison to pull alongside Onslow-Cole at Luffield and out-drag him to the finish line. Pead said, “I had a great race and we all gave each other room. Adam has now won the championship so I guess it’s onto Brands and we’ll be fighting for pride. I’ve had a great year with Boulevard and they have worked very hard, I’d like to go out with a couple of wins for them!”

With the top two spots decided there’s only a single point separating Allison and Onslow-Cole, and it’s time for the top two to try and help their team-mates as the series now heads to Brands Hatch 1st / 2nd October.