In the blink of an eye, it was the final round of the 750mc ClioSport Championship. A busy season of racing, at some of the best circuits in the UK, is brought to a close at Donington Park.

Unfortunately, during Friday testing, two JG Racing drivers (Alex Burridge and Josh North) suffered engine failures, meaning they weren’t able to compete in the last two races of the season. A huge shame, since both drivers were in contention of a top 5 finish in the overall 2023 Championship Standings. A fantastic achievement in itself given the lack of racing experience gained prior to joining JG Racing.

Qualifying

The Championship was given the first scheduled qualifying session on Saturday morning, and the track conditions were less than ideal. With the majority of the circuit still damp from overnight rain, caution was key for the first few laps. However, conditions quickly dried and Jason Pelosi in his Team Deranged Clio 197 put in another fantastic qualifying time, finishing P2 (Class B). Pete O’Connor continued his impressive qualifying record and achieved his best qualifying result of the season, putting the DUS Lighting hire car on pole position (Class A). Mr consistent, Alex Kilbey finished with a P7 (Class A) place, while Matt Aucote was P10 (Class A).

Class A

Class B

Race One

Another solid performance from Jason Pelosi saw him pushing fellow competitor Jack Kingsbury hard throughout the race, eventually having to settle with P2 (Class B). Pete O’Connor had a strong start off the line but, being caught on the outside of turn one, dropped him back to P3. With a master class in defending from start to finish, Pete held his P3 (Class A) until the finish line. Alex Kilbey made up one place from qualifying to finish P6 (Class A) and Matt Aucote finished P8 (Class A).

Class A

Class B

Race Two

For the final time in 2023, the JG racing team hit the track. With a wet conditions, it certainly added an element of unknown for the drivers.

Unfortunately, Jason Pelosi retired from P2 with a throttle body issue. After a calculated start to the race Pete O’Connor really turned up in the second half of the race, pushing hard for the lead of the Class A race, but would eventually settle for P2 (Class A) behind a stubborn Oliver Waind. Alex Kilbey made yet another improvement and finished P4 (Class A) taking the ‘Driver of the Day’ award and Matt Aucote bought the season to an end in P10 (Class A).

Class A

Class B

With the final race complete, that brings a close to the 2023 season campaign for JG Racing. As with all race seasons, there were many highs and some lows within the team, but all drivers pushed hard and represented the team brilliantly.

A thank you to all of the brilliant race engineers and support team at JG racing. Without their efforts, none of this would be possible.

A special thankyou goes out to our 2023 corporate partners DUS Group LTD, RevitupUK, DC Lomas LTD, Essex Driver Training LTD, Virtue Drinks, Morris Lubricants. It has been a pleasure working closely with you this season.

2024 planning is fully under way. More to come soon, watch this space…