LUKE Wright suffered a frustrating end to his maiden Air Asia Renault Clio Cup UK season at Brands Hatch.
A first-lap collision with rival Jack Goff in race one sent the talented 19-year-old into the barriers on the exit of the Druids hairpin, inflicting heavy damage to the left front corner of his car.
The impact was sufficient enough to effectively end his season, with the car unable to make the start for Sunday’s final race of 2011.
Wright was particularly exasperated about the incident and said: “I was simply just driven straight off the circuit, it’s as simple as that.”
Up until the controversial race one clash the young driver had put in a flawless performance at the famous Kent venue, showing imperious speed around the undulating full 2.6 mile circuit, which is widely regarded as an extreme test of driver skill.
Never having raced around the legendary GP layout before, the Scuderia Vittoria driver was impress-ively straight on the pace in Friday testing before powering his way to grid positions of fourth and second in Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying session.
Despite the disappointing conclusion to his debut season in front-wheel-drive machinery, the Shaftes-bury driver has certainly proved his ability to succeed at this level with outstanding performances at Croft and Snetterton earlier this year alongside his dominant double win at Siverstone’s World Series by Renault meeting back in August.
The young former single-seater driver is already planning an all out championship assault for 2012 and with a year’s experience of saloon car racing now under his belt the future looks bright.
Almost certainly remaining with Danny Buxton’s crack Scuderia Vittoria Clio Cup squad, Wright’s management are actively pursuing new commercial partners wishing to benefit from the huge marketing potential of the Renault Clio Cup UK race series, which runs alongside the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
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