Herbert on track for Clio Cup title

Largely dominating the penultimate event of the campaign, the Westbourne Motorsport driver locked out pole position for rounds ten and 11 and then converted both grid-topping starts into wins.

With the addition of fastest lap in the second race of the day, Herbert has opened up an 11-point lead on gross scores but an enhanced 25-point advantage with drop scores taken into account. In the Clio Cup Series, each competitor has to subtract their lowest score of the season before calculating final net totals.

Herbert was 0.1 of a second faster than team-mate Sam Randon (Ashbourne) in qualifying and went on to build an advantage of almost two seconds by the halfway point of race one.

During the latter stages, though, the undertray of his 2.0-litre Clio came loose to compromise his pace but Herbert held on to the lead to win by 0.6 of a second from chief title rival Paul Streather (Hinckley).

In race two, Herbert was never threatened as he stormed into a lead of around 3.5 seconds before backing off on the final lap.

Ahead of the final two rounds at Silverstone next month, the race series points leader is certainly edging ever closer to the coveted championship crown.

“We saved our new tyres for the second race, Paul [Streather] started to close the gap a little bit but my car was getting quicker and quicker with every lap”, reflected Herbert, “Two poles, two wins, one fastest lap – almost 100 per cent for the weekend which is great, and a 25 point lead on drops. It’s a great position to be in going into the last two races.”

Next stop for the Michelin Clio Cup Race Series and Road Series will be the season finale five weeks from now, on September 19-20, at Silverstone International Circuit in Northamptonshire.

Along with headline sponsors Michelin and Protyre, the Clio Cup Series is additionally supported by Ferodo, Safety Devices and ALS Performance.

Provisional 2015 Michelin Clio Cup series standings (after R11, minus drop scores): 1 Luke Herbert, 287pts; 2 Paul Streather, 262; 3 Brett Lidsey, 212; 4 Sam Randon, 202; 5 Andy Jordan, 200; 6 Adam Hatfield, 158.

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