Renault UK Clio Cup pilot Brett Lidsey confirmed his true potential in the all-action championship during the penultimate event of 2018 at Silverstone National Circuit over the weekend, 15th/16th September, with fastest lap in both contests and two outstanding race drives.Having shown glimpses of front-running form at several points during the season, the 27-year-old from Northfleet in Kent really came into his own in rounds 15 and 16 after a new engine in his MRM run Clio resolved recent power issues.

Racing from 13th on the grid in race one on Saturday into ninth place, Lidsey converted a top 10 starting slot in race two on Sunday into seventh position – having run as high as fifth place – after showcasing some sensational racecraft and ability.

Most notably, though, he lit up the timing screens in both encounters by setting fastest lap in each contest, a time of 1m04.503 seconds (91.55mph) in round 15 and an improved 1m04.398 seconds (91.70mph) in round 16.

“It’s been a great weekend for us, I think fastest lap in both races proves the point”, said a very happy Lidsey, “Yes we had a new engine this weekend, but you still have to drive the car and go for the moves and it’s not like the other guys at the front don’t change their engines! We’ve shown what we know we’re capable of, so I’m really pleased.

“Performance-wise, I think it’s been our best weekend yet in this championship. Obviously, the results aren’t the best we’ve had but, from a racing point of view and the battles we had, it’s definitely our best showing. We know we can run with the top guys, it’s qualifying we need to nail and then we’ll be there consistently.”

In pre-event testing on Friday, 14th September, Lidsey lapped within 0.8 seconds of the pace in session one but in the second run during the afternoon he found four tenths of a second to end the day only 0.3 seconds shy of the outright pace in 12th position overall.

Qualifying on Saturday morning was expected to be every bit as competitive and although not quite as close to the pole position time, Lidsey still produced a very tidy best lap of 1m04.657 seconds (91.33mph) to finish the session within half a second of the front row of the grid for race one – even though he was one of 11 drivers to have a lap disallowed for a track limits infringement.

Lining-up 13th on the grid for round 15, the MRM racer put together a great first lap to gain two positions but was then shuffled back to the tail of the top 15 the next time around. Determined to mount a swift recovery, Lidsey did precisely that with some impressive driving and overtaking and by the end of lap five he was back into 12th position.

With nothing between the tightly bunched cars, Lidsey remained in the thick of the midfield action and following a shuffling of the pack on lap eight he had surged through into ninth position. Fending off the attentions of Nicholas Reeve into the second half of the race, following a four lap Safety Car period racing resumed on lap 19 and Lidsey dropped to 11th spot after contact from Reeve.

Fighting hard to the finish on lap 21, Lidsey moved back inside the top 10 on the penultimate tour – when he also punched in the fastest lap of the race – before shadowing Reeve to the chequered flag. At the line, the MRM Clio was only 0.186 seconds adrift.

Starting Sunday afternoon’s race, which was screened live on ITV4, from 10th position on the grid, Lidsey made a sensational launch from the line to immediately move into ninth place and he then took eighth out of Copse. Running in the tight lead pack, he climbed into seventh at Brooklands when Dan Zelos had a spin and swiftly grabbed sixth as well to cap a stunning first lap.

Continuing inside the top six, running only 1.4 seconds shy of the race leader into lap three, Lidsey posted the fastest lap of the race to confirm his intent and began to pressure Mike Epps. Getting a great run into lap six Lidsey looked to challenge for fifth, and did manage to move ahead of Epps, but Max Coates was able to move inside both cars so Lidsey was sixth again.

Swarming all over the back of Coates’ Clio, Lidsey set another fastest lap on the eighth tour with a time of 1m04.398 seconds – which remained the best of the race – and he continued to turn up the pressure with some outstanding driving.

On lap 13, things began to reach boiling point when Coates passed Lee Pattison to take fourth at Copse but the latter hit back into Becketts. Lidsey followed Pattison through on the inside to move into fifth momentarily, but into Brooklands he was edged back to sixth again.

With all three drivers running nose-to-tail the scrap continued, but as they battled it allowed Daniel Rowbottom to tag on. In a similar way to a couple of laps prior, although this time at Luffield, Lidsey tried to follow Coates through again as he passed Pattison into lap 16 and the MRM racer did move into fifth as a result. Pattison, though, hit back again into Becketts and Rowbottom got involved too.

Then, out of Brooklands on lap 16, contact from Rowbottom pitched Lidsey into a slide which he managed to recover superbly with tremendous car control. Although dropping to eighth, he grabbed seventh from Rowbottom on the 18th and final lap and was just 0.4 seconds shy of the top six.