Brett Lidsey made a strong and competitive return to action during the fifth event of the Renault UK Clio Cup season at Croft in North Yorkshire over the weekend, with his second top 10 finish of the campaign.

Making his first appearance in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship support category since late May, having had to forego the previous race meeting at Oulton Park as it clashed with his wedding to new wife Graz, the 26-year-old Kent driver made a seamless return in rounds nine and 10.

While race one on Saturday didn’t go entirely to plan, Lidsey having to settle for a 13th place result after contact early on from a rival, in Sunday’s encounter – which was screened live on ITV4 – the Northfleet-based driver had a hugely entertaining battle before ending the race in the top 10.

“I really enjoyed race two, it was good to be involved in some big battles”, said the Liftout, GHR Scaffolding Ltd, GPL Projects Ltd, Certus Security, Dornack, Taylor Made Decals and MS Motorsport supported driver, “In some ways it was frustrating, as when you’re battling so much you lose the front pack, but to finish in the top 10 was a good way to end the weekend.

“I’d never tested at Croft in the current generation Clio before the practice on Friday, only the Gen-3 car, so we were a bit into the unknown but by the end of FP2 we were only 0.8 seconds off, which I was pretty pleased with, and then we found another six tenths in qualifying. Race one was unlucky as I was knocked off on lap two, after that there wasn’t much I could do, but overall I’m happy.”

After a number of weeks out of the car Lidsey was happy with his progress during officially timed testing on Friday, 22nd June, particularly with many rivals having lots more mileage under their belts from private in-season testing, and during qualifying he made more gains.

With the grid-determining session typically close, just 0.6 seconds separated Lidsey from pole position on his return to racing. Posting a quickest time of 1m31.851 seconds (83.28mph), the MRM driver ended the session with the 12th best lap to begin round nine from the sixth row of the grid.

Making a good start to race one of the weekend later in the day, Lidsey climbed through into the coveted top 10 but dropped two places at the end of lap two when Zak Fulk made contact and put Lidsey off the circuit at the hairpin. Joining the track in 13th place, the MRM racer wasn’t able to make up any further ground and remained there to the chequered flag.

Thanks to good consistency in qualifying, Lidsey also started round 10 from the sixth row of the grid and after negotiating Clervaux and Hawthorn cleanly he emerged from the chicane inside the top 10 and all over the back of team-mate Jade Edwards’ car.

Bottled up behind the sister MRM Clio, Lidsey looked to try and nose ahead but each attempt was rebuffed with some defensive lines. Getting his best run on lap three into Tower, Lidsey had the outside line and as Edwards defended the inside it gave Fulk the opportunity to sneak ahead.

Resulting in a slip to 11th place for Lidsey, he was also shuffled back to the tail of the top 12 soon after but at the end of lap four it was all change again. Jack McCarthy edged ahead of Edwards at the complex but as they tripped over each other, with Fulk in the equation too, Lidsey was able to emerge from the hairpin into lap five back inside the top 10 – once again directly behind Edwards.

Getting a run into Clervaux on lap six, but on the unfavourable outside line, Lidsey kept his foot planted and although McCarthy was able to slingshot past both MRM cars at Hawthorn on the inside, Lidsey’s commitment on the edge of adhesion around the outside was rewarded as he finally got ahead of his team-mate.

Initially staying with McCarthy, during the closing stages of the 12 lap encounter Lidsey focused on maintaining position and returning to the coveted top 10 for the first time since the Donington Park race meeting back in April.

There is now a five-week break from action for the Clio Cup with rounds 11 and 12 of the season taking place at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk over the weekend 28th/29th July.

Images courtesy Jakob Ebrey Photography.