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Files earns second top five finish at Snetterton 300

Team Pyro’s Josh Files kept himself in championship contention in round ten of the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup by gaining a solid fifth place finish at Norfolk's renowned Snetterton 300 circuit yesterday (12th August). 

The driver, backed as part of Direct Debit's Big Break campaign, failed to get the best of starts off the line, dropping to seventh as the field as the of aspiring racer's entered Riches for the first time.

Files soon began his pursuit of sixth placed Aaron Williamson, closing the gap on the Finesse Motorsport driver over the duration of the next lap. By lap 3, Files was hot-on-the-heels of Williamson, and by setting the fastest lap of the race,  the gap dropped to just 0.2 seconds at the end of the lap.

As Files tirelessly attempted to close in on Williamson, the gap remained static, until Files went fastest in sector one allowing him to mount a challenge on the Rookie Cup contender at Murrays.

Files continued his charge on Williamson, pressurising him into an error at Williams, this would see the Norwich based racer snatch fifth position, allowing him to concentrate on catching Team Pyro team mate, Jack Goff, seven seconds up the road.

For the remainder of the race, it was relatively routine for Files, who kept his nose out of trouble to bring his Clio Cup car home in fifth place, his second of the weekend, also scoring valuable points to stay in the championship hunt in the process.

"The car was better today but my start was awful, so I lost a few places there," explained Files. "When I got overtaken it was very argy bargy, I got smashed about two or three times from behind, one was so hard in the hairpin that I'm surprised that the car was still going. The race progressed well, and I think that we had quite a lot of pace today. Over the duration of the race the car felt much better so I can't argue with fifth."

"The next round is Rockingham, last year we went extremely well there so hopefully we can achieve the same sort of results again this year."

Files now sits in fourth position in the championship standings,  40 points adrift of Paul Rivett in second, and 67 points adrift of championship leader Goff.

The AirAsia Renault Clio Cup will now take a six week break before the series heads to Rockingham on 22/23 September.