Morgan Crowned 2013 Renault Uk Clio Cup Vice Champion

Alex Morgan wrapped up his 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup campaign this weekend at Brands Hatch with a podium and strong points finish to add to his successes from the season. The results round off a highly competitive and consistent year for the Bridgend born 26-year-old, and secured Vice-Champion position for Morgan in his debut year in saloon car racing. Morgan made his return to racing after a four season sabbatical in March this year and immediately made his intentions clear with a race win at Brands Hatch on his saloon car debut. He has had a consistently strong year, scoring one race win and four further podiums. He has only finished outside of the top eight on one occasion, proving his strength in the championship. In Saturday’s qualifying session, Team Pyro’s Morgan proved his blistering pace by initially securing 2nd position for Saturday’s first race (Round 15) and pole for Sunday’s season finale (Round 16), despite having never driven the circuit in the dry before. Unfortunately, following a lap time review by stewards, Morgan was one of ten competitors who had their quickest times expunged for yellow flag infringements. His pace though still secured him a front row start for the first race from second, and a second row start from fourth for Sunday. Morgan started Saturday’s 15-lap race behind James Colborn. He made a good start in dry conditions and piled on the pressure to the leader throughout the race. He eventually crossed the finish line in second position, just 0.6s behind Colborn, after an incident-packed race, which featured several safety car periods. Sunday proved a difficult race for the field, with treacherous conditions causing three safety car periods. On a slippery track with spray causing problems, Morgan initially slipped from fourth to seventh on the first lap. On lap 7 of 14 he made a brave move on team-mate and championship winner Josh Files and Jake Giddings to move up two positions to fifth. He then gained another position on lap 10 when he managed to avoid an aquaplaning Stefan Hodgetts, and crossed the line in fourth. Morgan said: 

I’m pleased to have been back on the podium this weekend as we had a bit of a mid-season lull. The safety cars in race 1 put the nail in the coffin for me in terms of trying to win the race, but I was happy with second and it was good to jump Paul [Rivett] in the championship. After yesterday's result I knew I needed another good finish today to secure the Vice-Champion position, and was extremely happy to finish the second race in 4th place after an action packed race in such difficult conditions, and my first wet race! I'm overjoyed to have finished 2nd in such a competitive series in my debut season after being away from racing for so long. I believe it’s a feat no rookie has managed previously in the history of the championship and hope it will help me secure a drive for next season! I'd like to thank all my sponsors for the season, especially MDA Renewables, along with Infinity Sports Management for negotiating my return to racing.

Josh Files took the 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup Championship with 384 points, with Alex Morgan finishing in second with 330 points.