Shanel Drewe’s fast developing pace this season has been finally rewarded with her first pole position and race win this weekend at Donington Circuit which was supplemented by another second place finish,
as she continues an amazing progress of podium finishes. It is often easy to forget that this is only Shanel’s ninth ever race weekend, with no previous karting or motorsport experience.
This weekend the Michelin Clio Championship supported the British truck Racing Championship with large crowds and perhaps was the weekend where Shanel has firmly established herself as a true front runner in the road class.
Shanel only missed out taking pole position in race 1 by 0.1seconds, but as all her top three best qualification times were quicker than her nearest competitors second best qualification time, Shanel secured her first ever pole for the second race.
Race one was delayed due to a track incident involving one of the British Truck Racing competitors, and by the time it started late on Saturday afternoon, the sunny weather had made way for torrential rain and poor visibility.
Never having tested let alone raced in the wet before, Drewe lost second to Thomas and entered turn one in third place, but feeling confident with her grip and set up, in a fantastic and brave move; Drewe overtook both second place Thomas and first place team mate Harrison by driving round the outside of the them through the difficult and downhill Craynors section, and by the time Drewe crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap one, she was 2 seconds clear of the chasing pack
Drewe continued to find pace where the others couldn’t and eventually finished over 17 seconds ahead of second place team mate Harrison. In fact, her top five best laps were all faster than the second place drivers’ best lap of the race.
Such was Drewe’s pace, her average speed over the entire race distance was less than 2mph than some of the Race Class running on full race wets, and during the race, Drewe was at one point actually lapping only 0.7 secs slower than some of the race class cars. The rain affecting the road sport cars far less than the race car due to the lower power output of the engines.
On the Friday just at the end of her test session, Drewes gear box froze, which meant a late night for the team. It is thought the first wet weather race may have masked this and the team are investigating, but in the Race 2 start which was sunny and dry, Shanel experienced a little bit of what felt like clutch slip on the start so could not convert her pole into a race lead, but again a very strong drive kept the first place team Mate Harrison in check who could not afford to let up for a moment, and Drewe secured a strong second place finish as the two Jade Development cars charged off in a race of their own.
Shanel mentions that “I am keeping my feet firmly on the ground. My only target this year has been to consolidate and develop my race craft and pace. Despite my success so far, I know I have so much more yet to learn and develop so I will continue on my plan, but being in contention or the championship and receiving increased support from my main Partner Dansoft Aviation Services, it is an exciting prospect”.
With three race meetings left, the clear favourites for the Championship are either of the Jade development team drivers of both Drewe and Harrison, and we look set for an exciting lead-in to the conclusion of the season.
