Mulbarton’s Tristan Cliffe keeps ahead of his rivals for F3 Cup title

Thursday, June 21, 2012
11:12 AM

Mulbarton’s Tristan Cliffe marked his debut at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix Circuit in Belgium with two fourth places in F3 Cup.

More importantly, he out-scored his championship rivals to retake the overall lead.

Race one was held in wet conditions with British F3 and Formula Renault champion Alex Lynn winning from Aaron Steele – who dominated F3 Cup last year – with Robbie Watts third.

Cliffe took fourth place despite being stuck in fifth gear for the last three laps.

“There was no way I could hold off Robbie with only one gear,” he said. “I was losing so much time at the first corner, which is normally taken in second gear, but I’m pleased to have driven around a difficult problem.

Lynn also won race two, which was held in dry conditions, with Steele second and Chris Needham third. Cliffe dropped to fourth after a losing a couple of places at the start.

Steele had joined Cliffe’s Omicron Motorsport team for the weekend and, with regular team driver Tony Bishop finishing strongly, Omicron has done well in the teams championship.

The next two races are at Snetterton in two weeks time, when Cliffe hopes home advantage will count.