HAWKIN
SJEPNATIONAL NEWS CLUB AUTOSPORT22 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 65CSCC
Ex-British Touring Car Championship driver
Mike Bushell will make his racing return in a
Lotus Cortina at Brands Hatch this weekend.
The double Renault UK Clio Cup champion
lost his BTCC drive on the eve of the 2019
season and has since engineered AmD Tuning
driver Rory Butcher to two wins.
Bushell made his rear-wheel-drive debut in
the Cortina last year at Brands, and will return
for the Bank Holiday Classic Sports Car Club
meeting to share with owner Richard Wheeler.
“Richard has been a good friend and a loyal
supporter of my racing, so he treats us every
now and again,” said Bushell. “It’s a bit more
special for me this year as I haven’t done any
racing at all. I’ll definitely dust off the cobwebs!”
Last season, Bushell qualified the car fifth
for the Classic K race but started from the pits
after a clutch failure on the way to the grid.
“It actually responds a lot like a front-wheel-
drive car,” he said. “If you’re on the throttle
too much then it tends to push on, but there’s
this lovely sweet spot where you’re just
balancing. It’s bliss to drive.”
Bushell has no further outings lined up,
but said that he was out to make some
connections at the meeting.
MATT KEWRENAULT UK CLIO CUPRenault UK Clio Cup title contender Max
Coates has hit out at his rival Jack Young’s
“unacceptable” move at the final corner of
the second race at Thruxton last weekend.
Coates failed to finish the contest after
being pitched into a spin at the Club
chicane by MRM driver Young on the last
lap. Young crossed the line as the winner
before being excluded post-race.
This was the latest incident between
the pair as Young had twice been penalised
at Snetterton for contact with Coates.
“This decision doesn’t give me my win
back – it doesn’t pay to repair the damage,”
said Coates. “I feel like I’m quite a cleanCoates blasts Young for Clio clash
Bushell to return with Cortina
driver but the same standard isn’t there
from the rest – it’s unacceptable.
“I’m now kicking myself for not
managing to get it across the line – all
sorts of alarms were going off [in the car].”
Young appealed the exclusion, believing
he was not at fault, but was unsuccessful.
“We were coming through Church and
he was defending from me,” said Young.
“I switched places, as he moved across the
track, and he just turned in on me. As far as
I’m concerned I didn’t do anything wrong.”
After the exclusion, Coates leads the
standings by 10 points over Young, but
Jamie Bond is only 32 adrift despite
missing the opening Brands Hatch races.
STEPHEN LICKORISHYoung (left) lost win
after Coates smashEx-BTCC driver will
reunite with CortinaGINETTA GT4 SUPERCUPLotus Cup Europe frontrunner
Jason McInulty joined the
Ginetta GT4 Supercup grid
at Thruxton last weekend as
he evaluates branching into
long-distance sportscar racing
with his brother David.
Run by ES Motorsport, his
regular Lotus team, McInulty
finished the final Supercup race
of the weekend fourth in the
Am class on his first outing at
Thruxton since competing on
motorcycles 15 years ago.
“We’re just looking at
whether we go endurance
racing,” said McInulty. “That’s
the plan as we’re getting a bit
older now! I’ll be 50 in a couple
of years and my brother’s seven
years older than me so we’re
going to start slowing down
and taking it easier. But we
still enjoy the racing.
“We’ll see what the car goes
like with the aero and the slicks
because I haven’t done that. It’s
trying to get your head around
how late you can brake and how
fast you can carry the corner
speed – probably not the best
circuit to learn on!”
McInulty and his brother
David, also a Lotus regular,
could contest Creventic 24
Hour series races next year in
a Ginetta GT4 car or LMP3
machinery, alongside their
Lotus campaigns. The 2019 title
hopes of the former Production
Class champion in Lotus Cup
Europe took a dent with a
double retirement at Brands
Hatch recently, when his Evora
GT4 got stuck in fourth gear.
MARK PAULSONMCINULTY TRIES
SUPERCUP AHEAD
OF ENDURO TILT
JE
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