Five weeks since he was last in competitive action, Brett Lidsey returns to the track at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire this coming weekend, 23rd/24th June, when the Renault UK Clio Cup resumes for rounds nine and 10 of the season.

Fresh from his wedding to new wife Graz a week ago at The Orangery in Maidstone (which obviously took precedence over the fourth race meeting of the season at Oulton Park!), the Northfleet 26-year-old is now ready to battle once again in the British Touring Car Championship support series.

So far this year, Lidsey has experienced a somewhat mixed campaign with strong performances tempered by misfortune on more than one occasion – the most notable being his dramatic exit from the opening race of the season at Brands Hatch when his car was pitched into a roll on the first lap.

Thanks to incredible work from the MRM team mechanics, the Kent racer’s car was miraculously ready for race two the following day and although there wasn’t time to establish an ideal set-up, Lidsey was able to secure a much-needed points finish.

At Donington Park three weeks later, the Liftout, GHR Scaffolding Ltd, GPL Projects Ltd, Certus Security, Dornack, Taylor Made Decals and MS Motorsport-backed racer was behind the wheel of a replacement car, with the original requiring a major re-shell, and he produced an inspired showing.

Qualifying a career-best sixth fastest at the Leicestershire track, Lidsey went on to finish a fantastic fifth in round three and then added another top 10 result in round four to really kick-start his first full campaign in the ultra-competitive championship.

During the third event of the year at super-fast Thruxton in Hampshire, though, bad luck again befell the MRM driver when another first lap incident not of his making resulted in a frustrating retirement from round six. He had posted a top 12 finish in the preceding fifth round.

“I’m really looking forward to being back in the car at Croft, it feels like an age since Thruxton but, at the same time, it’s flown by to be honest with all of the preparations for the wedding and the big day itself!”, said Lidsey, “Thruxton didn’t end how we wanted with another DNF, but we’re determined to hit back at the weekend and try and get back to where we were at Donington.

“I’ll be back in my original car at Croft and the plan is to obviously have the best practice day we can, then try and qualify in the top 10 as a minimum. Croft’s a great track, there’s always a lot of action and we’ve gone well there in the past in the previous generation car in the Clio Cup Series, so I’m hoping we can start moving up the championship and put together two really strong races.”

Following two practice sessions at Croft on Friday, 22nd June, qualifying for rounds nine and 10 of the Renault UK Clio Cup season will take place at 11.20 on Saturday, 23rd June, with race one of the weekend scheduled to start at 16.00.

Images supplied by:

 

Jakob Ebrey Photography