Ben Colburn converted pole position into a composed lights-to-flag victory in the opening Michelin Clio Cup Series race at Zandvoort, with plenty of drama behind. Colburn, back in the category as a guest entry, led away from the start and managed a safety car restart to perfection, retaining the lead and then putting in a series of fastest laps in quick succession to stretch out a 1.6-second lead to the chequered flag. “A lights to flag victory on my return to the championship – it can’t really get much better than that, what a fantastic job the team at Westbourne Motorsport have done,” said Colburn. “It was quite a different experience racing over here in the Netherlands compared to the UK, but it was good to see some different rules. I’m looking forward now to the final two races tomorrow, the aim is to win them both!” The battle for second position nearly changed hands on track, with championship leader Simon Freeman initially getting a run on Pearson, but the Scottish racer fended him off. The complexion of that battle completely shifted, however, after five drivers were handed 10-second time penalties mid race for being adjudged to be out of position at the start. Whilst Colburn celebrated a second career victory around the 2.64-mile Dutch circuit, Freeman duly moved up into second and Pearson dropped to fourth behind Arjan Oudejans in the final reckoning, the latter taking silverware on his debut in the category. James Colburn recovered from his penalty to extend his winning streak in the Sport Series to five races on the spin, with MRM’s Tyler Lidsey similarly bouncing back to reclaim second from Filip Uyttendaele and continue his run of podiums in the fourth-generation RS Clio 220. Nic Harrison took the Road Series honours as the sole surviving car, with Richard Colburn forced to pit early on. James Joannou, Thujs Raaijmakers and Paul Bell were also non-classified, the latter two coming together on the opening lap in dramatic fashion to trigger the early safety car
The last endurance race of season 2018 was a special one! 20 hours of racing and 4 hours of moving between two different tracks (10 hrs at Assen TT track and 10 hrs at Zanvdoort) made up for an exciting 24 hours. We started in Assen where after 10 hours of racing (and a few technical glitches) we finished 5th in class. The next day at Zandvoort was probably one of the wettest days I ever experienced in my 10 year racing career. With the red Kool Racing Clio we could take advantage of those difficult circumstances, driving it all the way back to 2nd place in the SuperSports Class. A great experience and excellent result. Big thank you to my fellow drivers Martijn Kool and Jim & Thijs Raaijmakers as well as the entire pit crew!
On Sunday July 22nd we finished 2nd in class after 10 hours of racing at the Zanvdoort track in the Netherlands. Great result with the Kool Racing Clio, especially considering we finished 3rd place overall. Next endurance; 24hrs of Assen and Zandvoort on Sept 22&23rd.
The first endurance race of this season was the DNRT 8hr at the Zandvoort track. Driving as part of the KOOL-MTB-NRG team we managed to get to 2nd place in class until almost three hours into the race we broke a driveshaft. Replacement took 20 mins. With 10 laps behind we had our work carved out for us. We worked our way up the rankings in the last 5 hours and still managed to finish 5th in class when crossing the finish line. Next endurance – DNRT 10hrs on Sunday July 22nd
Season 2018 is looking to be an interesting and varied racing season, with exciting tracks like Spa-Francorchamps included as well as a couple nice endurance opportunities. The DNRT 2018 calendar can be found below (we compete in the Auto’s A class) as well as under the calendar tab on this website.
Unfortunately team KOOL-MTB-NRG was not able to complete the 10hr endurance race at Zandvoort. Severe damage in the very first lap meant significant time loss and ongoing trouble during the rest of this eventful day. 1 hour before the finish we decided to retire the car. No podium this year, but still another fantastic 8 hours of endurance racing…..
In seaon 2016 Arjan Oudejans participated in the Zandvoort 12hr endurance race, finishing 2nd in class. This season Arjan will again participate in the 10hr endurance – together with Martijn Kool and Thijs Raaijmakers taking place on Sunday October 15th on the Zandvoort track.
