Brett Lidsey achieved his long-held dream of taking the chequered flag first in a Renault UK Clio Cup race at super-fast Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire on Saturday, 17th August – before a jump start time penalty cost the Kent racing driver his maiden victory in the high-profile championship.

On a very dramatic weekend at the quickest track on the Clio Cup calendar, the 27-year-old from Northfleet got things off to an absolutely sensational start with his first ever pole position in the British Touring Car Championship support category. 

An unfortunate 100mph accident later in the qualifying run, at one of the fastest parts of the track, ended Lidsey’s involvement in the session but his earlier time was enough to give the MRM driver a headline-grabbing pole for the first encounter.

Going on to win race one of the weekend on the road after a superb drive, dicing wheel-to-wheel with championship rivals Jack Young and Max Coates, a 10 second penalty for a false start dropped Lidsey to a heart-breaking seventh in the revised classification.

During round 12 on Sunday, 18th August, the Kent driver started sixth on the grid – as a result of his later dramas in qualifying – but a battle through the order was halted on lap six after collecting the spinning car of rival Finlay Robinson, resulting in damage to the alternator belt and retirement.

“Saturday’s race was one of the best I’ve ever had in Clios”, said Lidsey, “Unfortunately the Judge of Fact said I’d made a false start, so I have to accept that, but I didn’t gain an advantage – if anything I lost out as I stopped the car from rolling and ended up second by corner three. We won on the road, though, so proved we can win at this level so I’m really pleased about that, even if we lost the result.

“It’s right where I’ve been working towards all season with the MRM guys, I had a great car this weekend again and to take my first pole, especially somewhere like Thruxton, is really special. In the end it’s frustrating to lose the win and the points that go with it, but nobody can take away the performance we delivered.”

Starting the weekend with the third fastest time in the first of two practice sessions on Friday, 16th August, Lidsey was then fourth quickest in session two. Going into qualifying on Saturday morning aiming for a strong performance, the MRM racer delivered in spades with his first ever Clio Cup pole position after posting a time of 1m23.337 seconds (101.77mph) on his fourth lap of the session.

Almost jumping the start of race one, Lidsey was able to stop the car and subsequently made a less than ideal getaway but the damage was done in terms of the race officials. Edged back to second place through the complex, Lidsey hit back to get ahead of Coates into lap two and a monumental battle developed which also involved Young and Jamie Bond all fighting tooth and nail. 

With nothing to split them lap after lap, while positions did see-saw Lidsey led across the line on every occasion and over the last couple of tours he managed to break away at the front to take the chequered flag 1.2 seconds clear.

With a 10 second penalty applied for the perceived jump start, though, the Liftout, GHR Scaffolding Ltd, GPL Projects Ltd, Certus Security, Dornack, Taylor Made Decals, MS Motorsport and MSY Grab Hire & Mini Digger Hire supported driver was ultimately classified in seventh place. In terms of his pace, Lidsey just missed the fastest lap of the race by only eight hundredths of a second. 

Facing a tougher challenge for round 12 on Sunday afternoon from sixth on the grid, Lidsey got away from the line cleanly but a tangle just ahead into the complex meant he had to run wide off circuit and get off the throttle, dropping the MRM car to ninth. 

Climbing back into eighth at the end of lap one before the Safety Car appeared, at the re-start on the fourth tour Lidsey ran behind brother Tyler – making his championship debut this weekend – and soon passed his sibling for seventh before setting the fastest lap at that point.

Lidsey’s next target was Robinson but as they rounded the Noble and Goodwood sequence of corners, Robinson’s Clio got out of shape, after edging Lidsey wide, and speared across the front of the MRM car. Each sustained damage and both drivers were forced into retirement.

“Race two was unlucky, it was anyone’s game after the Safety Car”, said Lidsey, “I was going to the inside at Goodwood and he [Robinson] pushed me over the apex and kept his foot in and then went wide. When he came back across I had nowhere to go and collected him which took the belt off the alternator, so we had to retire the car as it was overheating straight away.

“We don’t know the extent of the damage to the engine, so that needs to be looked into before the next round at Knockhill. If we end up needing a fresh engine, it might mean we have to miss the next round which would be a massive disappointment and ruin my chances of trying to finish the season in the championship top three. We’ll have to see what happens.”

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