Team Pyro’s Josh Files was left disappointed after dramatically crashing out of Round 16 of the 2012 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup – the final race of the season – around the world-renowned Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
Deciding which tyres to run in qualifying was a complete gamble on a greasy track but an inspired decision by Team Pyro to run a mix of slick fronts and wet rears helped Files set the pace almost straight out of the blocks.
The Norwich-based driver, backed by Direct Debit’s Big Break campaign, drilled in the two fastest times of the session to nab pole position for both of this weekend’s races, but was unable to convert those into race wins.
After achieving a hard-fought second place in Saturday’s opening Clio Cup race, the 21-year old was keen to go one better on Sunday, to end the 2012 season in style.
He got a superb start in dreadful weather conditions, but lost the initiative to Scuderia Vittoria’s Stefan Hodgetts on the run to Paddock Hill Bend. The Team Pyro racer was an innocent casualty of the first-corner melee that is a common feature of the ultra-competitive one-make series. However, his race finally came to an end when a collision with the barriers at Clearways tipped him onto his side.
“What a complete disaster,” said Files. “The start was good, but I was pushed on to the wet grass and lost momentum. Then Ant Whorton-Eales went around the outside of me, got it wrong and collected me as he span. Unfortunately, I went off, while he kept going.”
“I managed to recover at the tail end of the field but I then suffered a massive lock-up at Clearways, possibly as a result of damage from the first-corner incident.”
He added: “On the whole, the weekend was pretty encouraging. We were definitely quicker than everybody else throughout. I had hoped to translate my two pole positions into at least one race win, but we’ll come back bigger and stronger next year and I know we’ll dominate.”
For more information regarding Josh Files and his racing activity in the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup, please view his Facebook page, or alternatively follow @JoshFiles on Twitter.