Daire Flock (number 22) WESTBOURNE during the 5th round of the Clio Cup Series at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, in Misano Adriatico, Italy Photo Marc de Mattia / DPPI
Flock has a good weekend in Italy despite heavy crash
TALLAGHT native and Westbourne Motor’s driver Daire Flock has finished within the top 10 of the European Clio Cup Series and second within the Junior Championship. Though certainly faced some adversity on his way to get there.
The fourth round of the European Clio Cup Series was held at the Imola track in Italy which has previously held host to other prestigious racing events such as Formula One.
After an initial practice session on Friday heading into Saturday’s event, Flock was setting reasonable racing times and getting himself into the groove, poised to start well until a worst case scenario happened during the first qualifying round.
He came out of the blocks flying, setting good times until a misjudgement into the second chicane [type of bend on race track] saw Flock lose control of the vehicle and entered into a forward roll, severely damaging the car and rendering it unusable.
Flock was taken to the medical centre where he was declared fit to drive hours later.
Despite the setback Flock was able to use the team’s spare car, supplied by Ben Jenkins, for the remainder of the weekend and Daire was able to participate in Qualifying Two.
Due to the regulations and rules of driving in a new car, drivers doing so are required to start from the very back of all races. This left Daire in 45th place as he was about to participate in Race One after Qualifying.
Despite racing in a new car Daire was able to get his way back up into 27th and from Race Two after again starting from 45th place was able to finish 23rd.
That concluded the fourth round of the European Clio Cup Series. Flock commented after the event.
“ After my accident in qualifying, I did my best to gain as many places as possible as I had to start from the back of the grid. A huge thank you to my team for preparing the spare car for the races.”
The 5th round of the tournament took place in Misano, Italy 2 weeks after Imola. The event was held as part of the World GT weekend with the Moto GP rider Valentino Rossi making a guest appearance,
Daire’s qualifying time was the fastest he had produced all year managing to secure ninth position on a grid of 42 cars.
There was less than a second separating the top 20 cars on the grid.
Race One saw Daire get a good start but eventually would drop to 12th.
After settling down and gain consistency he would move up the places slowly peaking in 10th position with just two laps left to go.
Unfortunately luck would again not be on Flock’s side as his right rear tyre suffered a puncture which effectively ended his race and left him in 34th position.
Qualifying Two was not as seamless as the first round of qualifying and Daire struggled to find space for his car with the amount of vehicles on the track, he still managed a 15th placing.
Race Two started later than expected due to an accident in another event on the track which caused a two hour delay, Daire performed excellently throughout the race and snuck his way into 11th place before pushing his opposition and actually landing in ninth position for the finish of the race.
This would place him ninth overall and second in the juniors.
Daire said after the race, “Overall it was a positive weekend, finishing in the top 10 in the European Clio Cup Series and 2nd in the Junior championship, I want to thank Westbourne Motorsport and Richard Colburn for supporting me and giving me a car to achieve my top ten result after my accident at Imola.
‘I would also like to thank my sponsors, Gorilla Design, Glanhaze Distribution, Rygor Autos and family and friends for giving me this opportunity to race in Europe.
‘We now look forward to Magny Cour to push for top 3 in the Juniors.”
