Renault UK Clio Cup challenger Brett Lidsey produced an excellent series of performances on his maiden visit to Knockhill Circuit in Scotland over the weekend, to make a deserved return to the podium and close back in to within just 13 points of the series top three.
As well as marking the first visit to the unique Fife track for the 28-year-old from Northfleet, the event was also tinged with great sadness having received the news before testing on Friday his Nan had very sadly passed away.
Going on to race to a top three finish in round 13 on Saturday afternoon, Lidsey was able to dedicate his welcome podium return to his late grandmother and he almost added a runner-up finish in round 14 on Sunday until clipping a kerb late on, which dropped him back to fourth position.
“I’m really annoyed to have missed the podium in race two, the pace was there – we held the fastest lap for ages – and the car was absolutely spot on”, reflected Lidsey, “We struggled a bit in race one, although it was obviously good to get a podium, so we made some tweaks to help slow the car down in the braking zones for race two and it worked perfectly.
“It was just unfortunate to clip the kerb in the second race, I knew with the pace we had we could take second place so it’s frustrating but still a strong weekend. I’d never been to Knockhill before, and didn’t do any work on the sim, so there was a lot to learn in testing and we did a good job.”
Lidsey added: “It wasn’t made any easier by bad news we received on Friday morning saying we’d lost my Nan, she was battling lung cancer and we’d been with her on Wednesday night before we travelled up to Knockhill. I’m glad I could dedicate the podium on Saturday to her.”
Slightly disappointed to qualify fifth fastest for race one of the weekend, even though less than half a second shy of pole position, Lidsey actually went on to begin round 13 from an elevated fourth on the grid due to a penalty for team-mate Jack Young.
Holding position at the start, into lap two Lidsey was side-by-side with Ethan Hammerton in the battle for third but the next time around Young – carving his way through after his penalty – was able to slice past. After a three lap Safety Car period racing resumed on the sixth tour and MRM driver Lidsey managed to usurp Jamie Bond for third position.
Roughly three seconds clear of the chasing pack, all looked in control and although under increasing pressure during the final few laps he held the place to the finish. Red flags were shown five laps before the scheduled conclusion as a result of Lidsey’s brother Tyler being stranded at the hairpin.
Beginning race two on Sunday from fourth on the grid, Lidsey made a sensational start to leap into third position on the run to the first corner and he immediately started to pressurise second placed Max Coates.
Shadowing the championship leader during the early laps, Lidsey swarmed and duly passed Coates for second on lap four after his rival went wide out of the chicane. Seeing his chance, Lidsey dived to the inside at the next right-hander and sealed the pass before pulling away.
Setting the fastest lap at that point on the fifth tour, he was able to pull 1.5 seconds clear of Coates but into the second half of the race the pursuers began to close in. Then, on lap 13, a dramatic tip onto two wheels as he caught the inside kerb at McIntyres pitched Lidsey off track into the gravel.
Although recovering well, the lost momentum dropped him to fourth and that was where the Liftout, GHR Scaffolding Ltd, GPL Projects Ltd, Certus Security, Dornack, Taylor Made Decals, MS Motorsport and MSY Grab Hire & Mini Digger Hire backed racer ended the encounter. He also only just missed out on the fastest lap by less than three hundredths of a second.
Images courtesy of www.pspimages.co.uk