
A great start to the 2023 Clio Sport Championship
The 2023 750mc ClioSport Championship season opener saw JG Racing head to Silverstone, the home of British Motorsport. This season welcomed some new drivers to the team and the first race weekend took place on Silverstone’s ‘National’ layout, a short flowing circuit that rewards a smooth patient driver.
With a huge grid of 32 cars for the opening round, we were expecting a competitive day’s racing. It did not disappoint.
Qualifying
Qualifying showed a strong performance from all drivers in their respective classes, with the top 20 being split by only one second. Alex Burridge #23 saw himself line up in P3 (Class A), followed closely by Peter O’Connor #72 in P4 (Class A). Josh North #10 in the JG Racing team car for his debut race weekend came in P7 (Class A). Alex Kilbey #85 driving his Team Deranged 182 placed P8 (Class A) and unfortunately JG Racing’s team boss James Gahagan #14, who returned to the grid after a 4 year break, finished P12 (Class A), with engine power issues (it later transpired that some ring lands and pistons were damaged) and finally Jason Pelosi #77, who moved to Class B for 2023, qualified P9.
Class A
Class B
Race One
Unfortunately, race one saw an incident into Copse involving three cars which put Peter O’Connor out for the remainder of the day. Alex Burridge kept out of trouble and brought his car home in P3 (Class A). Alex Kilbey had a great race as well to finish P5 (Class A). Josh North, the DC Lomas Service and MOT supported driver, had a great debut drive. After dropping back to P12, he made his way back through to finish P7 (Class A) and James Gahagan, even with engine issues, finished P12 (Class A). Jason Pelosi, in his Team Deranged 197, finished a respectable P7 (Class B).
Class A
Class B
Race Two
Race Two came and went with no issues, if not a little underwhelming. Due to ongoing mechanical issues throughout the weekend, James Gahagan had to pull in early and subsequently retire from the weekend. The car was just not healthy enough to able to compete mid-pack with noticeably less power than those around him. Alex Kilbey finished P5 (Class A) making up 4 positions. Contact with another driver at the start of the race saw Alex Burridge drop back to P6 (Class A) and Josh North came home in P12 (Class A). Jason Pelosi had another strong points finish taking P6 (Class B).
Class A
Class B
Overall, there were strong performances across the weekend from the team. Next up, we will be heading to Brands Hatch for Round 2 of the 750mc Clio Sport Championship. Brands is our home circuit. We have previously seen a lot of success here and hope to build on the performances at Silverstone and bring home some more silverware.
A special ‘thank you’ goes out to our 2023 season partners who we welcomed to the track – DUS Group and DUS Lighting.