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Westbourne Motorsport’s Ben Colburn and Graves Motorsport’s Nicky Taylor secured a race victory apiece at Oulton Park, in Rounds 9 & 10 of the 2024 Clio Cup Great Britain championship.
Qualifying
Taylor was quick out of the blocks in the morning’s qualifying session, setting the early pace in the #17 Renault Clio V II. Colburn fought back to take provisional pole position, before a fabulous lap time of 2m02.597s ensured it was Taylor who would end the session as fastest qualifier and start Round 9 at the front of the grid.
Colburn would join Taylor on the front row for the day’s opening race, while Ben Jenkins (LDR Performance Tuning) outqualified Daire Flock (Westbourne Motorsport) by 0.032s to start in P3.
Having narrowly missed out on pole position for the day’s opening race, Colburn’s second-fastest lap (2m02.756s) did secure the front of the grid for the #55 driver for the day’s second race.
Taylor would join Colburn on the front row for Round 10, with Jenkins and Flock rounding out the second row once more.
Race One
Both Westbourne Motorsport drivers enjoyed tremendous starts to Round 9, with Colburn getting the jump on Taylor through the opening exchanges and Flock managing the same on Jenkins.
Taylor immediately fought back to retake the lead of the race at the end of the first lap, but both Colburn and Flock were hot on the tail of the polesitter in front. Colburn then managed to get a run at the beginning of the third lap on Taylor, completing his overtake on the leader into Old Hall.
The top three continued jostling in close proximity for the remainder of the race, but ultimately that move proved decisive and Ben Colburn claimed his fourth victory of the season.
An exhilarating battle for the final two places on the podium culminated with Taylor pipping Flock to the finish line by just 0.252s, with the top three being separated by only 1.322s.
Race Two
Despite an initial poor getaway, Taylor stormed into the lead during the opening lap of Round 10. Colburn had to tuck in and settle for second, with Flock again managing to overtake Jenkins through the opening exchanges.
The leading trio were following in even closer proximity than in the proceeding race, with less than one second covering the three drivers over the line on each of the first six laps.
All the while Colburn was applying pressure to Taylor in front, he was equally under threat from teammate Flock behind. On the fifth lap, Flock replicated the move that Colburn mustered on Taylor in the earlier race to pass Colburn and take second.
Round 10 was then concluded early after Colburn had an off at the exit of Cascades.
Taylor’s race-long defence was rewarded with his fifth victory of the season, with Flock and Jenkins joining the podium places in second and third respectively.
Attention now turns to the iconic Brands Hatch Indy circuit for the championship's final two races on October 26.
Photo: Gary Hawkins Photography