Michelin Clio Cup Race Series driver Ollie Pidgley ensured he concluded his first season of car racing an excellent sixth in the championship at Croft Circuit over the weekend, 20th/21st September, with two more victories in the ‘Sport’ class on his maiden appearance at the North Yorkshire venue.

Having never visited the track prior to this weekend’s final event of 2014, the Downton 17-year-old had a steep learning curve and especially with inclement weather making the test sessions far from straightforward for the Team Pyro driver.

Even so, Pidgley qualified ninth fastest overall for the two races in a tricky rain-hit qualifying session on Saturday, lapping just over 0.1 seconds faster than Sport rival Pete Bennett, and went on to finish fourth and sixth in Sunday’s pair of action-packed encounters.

“The weekend in general has been good”, commented Pidgley, “Ending the season sixth in the championship is great, that was our target coming into Croft and we’ve won seven out of 12 in our class too so I’m really happy with that.

“Friday was my first day ever on the track, it was successful but the conditions were changing so much and when it was dry I only got seven laps in because of red flags. Qualifying was obviously wet, though, and I didn’t get the best times in and started the races on the back foot really.”

Making a good start to race one, Pidgley gained three places on the opening lap to move into the coveted top six and hold the Sport class lead. He then climbed into fifth at the expense of team-mate Brett Smith when he got out of shape at the chicane and lost the back end of his Clio.

The recovering Smith did hit back on lap seven at Tower, edging Pidgley back to sixth position, but thereafter the Salisbury teenager ran untroubled to the chequered flag on lap 12 and picked up two more places when front-runners Luke Herbert and David Dickenson hit problems. Ending up with a fantastic fourth place, the result matched the best of his rookie season.

In round 12, another clean getaway enabled Pidgley to maintain position and he then moved up into seventh. Nudged down to eighth place a lap later, but maintaining the Sport class lead, the Pyro racer quickly got back into seventh position and spent the second half of the contest holding his place. However, a time penalty for 2014 champion Mike Robinson hoisted Pidgley into the top six.

“Without the experience of the other guys, I didn’t think I’d be able to get near the front to be honest this weekend and I just needed things to happen – which they did!”, reflected Pidgley, “On the formation lap for both races I could feel my rear tyres were cold, you just couldn’t get the heat into them and I think some of the others found that out early in the race.

“I’m pleased to end the season where we have, it’s been a good year and we’ve learnt a lot with Pyro so now we’re looking forward to next year where we’ve got a few options we’re considering – the main thing is to work hard over the winter to try and get the sponsorship we need.”

Visit www.olliepidgley.com for all the latest news and follow him on Twitter @OPidgleyRacing

Final 2014 Michelin Clio Cup Race Series Driver Standings:
6th Ollie Pidgley, 171pts