Josh Files battled to his second top ten finish in Round 8 of the Renault UK Clio Cup to round off a trying weekend at Oulton Park (Sunday 9 June).  

Following a hard-fought top ten finish in race one on Saturday (8 June), the Team Pyro outfit made a few tweaks to the car overnight in the hope of unlocking more pace from the car for Sunday’s UK Clio Cup encounter, which was televised live on ITV4 and ITV4HD.

Starting eighth on the grid, the 22-year old produced another good start but found himself hung out to dry on the outside of the first corner. Forced out across the grass, Files lost a number of places, emerging in 11th. 

The Vocalink-backed driver moved up to tenth place on the second lap, but that was as much progress as he was able to make. Finding himself behind a defensive Rob Smith, just like he had been in race one, Files was unable to find a way past. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, the Norfolk-based racer was left to settle for tenth place at the flag.

“I got a relatively good start but was pushed out at the first corner, which is the problem with being on the outside,” said Files. “I then had the world’s worst person to overtake in front of me; he was defending stupidly and we were losing over a second a lap to those in front. The bad qualifying was responsible for creating a really frustrating race.” 

The weekend’s results leaves Files third in the championship standings heading into the next meeting at Croft Circuit in two weeks’ time (22-23 June). 
 
For more information on Josh Files’ racing activities, please visit the official www.joshfiles.co.ukwebsite, 'like' his Facebook page or follow @JoshFiles on Twitter.