The 2024 Clio Cup Great Britain Championship concluded at Brands Hatch on Saturday 26 October, with Graves Motorsport’s Nicky Taylor sealing the championship despite an impressive double victory by Westbourne Motorsport’s Daire Flock.
Qualifying
Ben Colburn started strong in the morning’s qualifying session. Not only did the Westbourne Motorsport driver secure pole position for the day’s opening race with a lap time of 58.605s, but also for the second race too.
Taylor headed into the Brands Hatch season finale as championship leader and was on the pace in qualifying, narrowly missing out on pole position for Round 11 by just 0.084s.
Flock and fellow Westbourne Motorsport driver James Colburn rounded out the second row for both races, while championship debutants Ainsley Bird and Harvey Riby managed to just outqualify LDR Performance Tuning’s Ben Jenkins to start both rounds in P5 and P6 respectively.
Race One
Midway through the opening lap Taylor seized the race lead, while a fast starting Jenkins was moving his way up through the field. B Colburn continued to keep Flock and J Colburn behind, but the pair were pushing hard and in close proximity.
After a move on the race leader in the run up to Druids Hairpin cost B Colburn momentum mid-way through the race, Flock stormed past to take second. The #22 driver didn’t stop there, quickly reeling in Taylor in front and making his move on the leader stick down the Brabham straight.
As it has been all season, the racing was incredibly close, with just 0.881s separating the top four over the line after twelve laps.
With Taylor stuck in a tense battle with both Colburn brothers, Flock expertly built a gap to the cars behind to take the checkered flag first and claim his second win of the season.
Taylor defended superbly to finish in second, while J Colburn will be delighted to have ended his first Clio Cup GB race of the season in third place. Riby also enjoyed a strong debut race to finish in fourth, ahead of Jenkins and Bird.
Race Two
A gripping opening lap ended with B Colburn still at the front of the field, by just 0.094s ahead of Flock and 0.192s ahead of Taylor. Riby started excellently and managed to gain multiple positions to sit in fourth.
Previous race-winner Flock was immediately on the pace once more and had overtaken both Taylor and teammate B Colburn for the race lead by lap two. Taylor had also managed to get the jump on B Colburn to run in second-place, but the #55 driver was hot on the heels of the two cars in front.
Jenkins was again making progress through the opening half of the race, as a six-car battle for the lead entertained all those in attendance at the Kent circuit. Flock remained in front, but the pressure from the chasing pack continued to mount.
Staggeringly, over the start/finish line on lap twenty just 0.839s separated Flock, Taylor, J Colburn, Riby and Jenkins, with each driver looking to make the jump on the car in front while trying to simultaneously stay ahead of the driver behind.
Ultimately, no one could prevent Flock from recording his third victory of the season and an excellent Brands Hatch double for the young driver.
Taylor’s second runners-up trophy of the day was enough for the #17 driver to claim the 2024 Clio Cup GB title and a huge congratulations goes to Taylor and the wider Graves Motorsport team.
J Colburn recovered fantastically well from a tough opening lap to round out the podium for a second race in a row. Riby and Jenkins missed out on the trophies by a mere 0.174s and 0.261s, in fourth and fifth place respectively. Bird continued to improve in his first Clio Cup GB meeting, finishing in P6.
View the final 2024 Clio Cup championship standings here.
Photo: Gary Hawkins Photography