Round one of the highly competitive 2017 Michelin Clio Championship at Silverstone took place this weekend, and entering the road class was Shanel Drewe.
At just sixteen years old Shanel was not only the youngest on the grid, but this was her first time ever at the Silverstone track.
Shanel first drove her new car just 5 weeks before this weekend, and only managed two test sessions prior to the start of the season. Despite this Shanel managed to secure an incredible second place in the first race, and third place in the second race, each time only finishing behind the much more experienced cars of her team mate Nic Harrison and Richard Colburn of Westbourne Motorsport.
This demonstrates the believe put into her by her new team Jade Developments who first noticed an underlying ability during last season, and who have been helping Shanel and her father build an entry.
Not only did Shanel have the task of having to learn the Silverstone circuit for the first time, but she describes the whole organisation and order that a professional team such as Jade Developments bring to a race weekend a complete uphill learning curve, which changed almost everything she knew about preparing and completing a race weekend.
The weather blessed the first race weekend with sunshine and blue sky, and in Saturday qualification, Shanel manged to secure fourth place on the grid for the first race, but third place for the second race, which picks up an ability the team are finding in Shanel to be very consistent in her laps, and this has to be a strong base on which to build her pace on.
In Race 1, Drewe took third place after the first corner, and concentrated on building a gap to fourth place driver Joannou, whilst maintaining pace with the Harrison and Colburn which she did amicably. A challenge mid race from Joannou was quickly seen off by Drewe who stamped her authority on third position. In the closing stages of the race Shanel maintained a three second gap on 2nd place Harrison, and in a thrilling final lap managed to take opportunity of an unfortunate mishap for Harrison to take not only second place, but her maiden podium position.
The excitement and joy of both Shanel and her family were very evident in Parc Ferme, and the high of such a finish placed Shanel in a confident frame of mind for the second race, where she started third on the grid and confidently maintained this position from start to finish, where she saw her team mate Harrison take the race win.
This places the Jade Developments team in a commanding position in this year’s Michelin Clio Road Championship, and was an excellent showcase as they undertook their first competitive event with the teams new partner Sonic Equipment tools, supplied by Damar International.
It offers us exciting times ahead to watch Shanel develop and mature further throughout the year.
Shanel is first to thank Jade Developments for the hard work and support they have shown her to develop her skill, but reports the Dansoft Aviation Services, Wrapped Up Cars.com, Gold Star On Board, Milltec Sport, City Electrical Factors, and Motul backed car is showing real pace, and she is determined to do her team and partners proud as the season commences.
Overall this is an extremely credible and exciting start to the season, and wipes away the cob webs of her rookie season where she struggled with both an uncompetitive car and lack of race experience her family team had. We look forward to the rest of the season.
