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LANIK'S PACE AT SILVERSTONE'S GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT |
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Sunday 8th June 2008
UK ELF Clio Cup 2008 at Silverstone GP - ROUND 11+12
LANIK, Austrian championship-winning racing driver, came away with a stunning performance last weekend in Round 11+12 of the 2008 Clio Cup in front of 110,000 live spectators at Renault’s World Series event held at Silverstone’s famous 3.2 mile Grand Prix racing venue. Even a non-finish in Round 12 didn’t bring the team down, as the Miracle Drywash-sponsored Youth For Human Rights Race Team and 21-year old racer, Niki Lanik, experienced a steep learning curve being 20th out of 30 in testing, improving to 3rd quickest in Round 12 over the weekend. “Each of the seventy laps I completed this weekend consisted of fifteen high and low speed corners, twenty six gear changes and a distance of 3.2 miles at an average speed of 91mph. For learning such a new track so quickly and ending the weekend with 3rd fastest lap is a serious confidence boost for the next two championship rounds.” commented podium-finisher, Niki Lanik.
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TESTING was a disaster - the team, not having tested or raced on the Grand Prix circuit before, seriously struggled to find pace during Friday’s test session. Being over two seconds off the pace and lying 20th on the time sheets Niki felt rather de-motivated for the upcoming race weekend. After the test session, Niki talked to his engineer and reviewed his technical data and in-car footage. The reasons were found why Lanik didn’t have good lap times. “I really didn’t feel good after that test session. I wasn’t confident at all, especially for tomorrow’s qualifying, but after having talking to my engineer and looking at my own driving I somehow felt better. I realised I wasn’t pushing hard enough through most corners.” said Niki about his disappointing test.
DURING Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying LANIK had to push hard and try different racing lines to see which worked best around the GP circuit. He managed to earn himself 10th on the grid for Round 11, and 8th for Round 12 – a definite improvement from testing.
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“I was getting quicker and quicker through-out the qualifying session. I was even running 3rd for a while which surprised me.” commented Niki on his qualifying.
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AT the start of Round 11 of the 2008 Elf Clio Cup the Miracle Drywash-sponsored driver started 10th on the grid and made a cracking start to secure 8th position by the end of the first lap. Half-way through the race, double Clio Winter champion, Niki, made the move into 7th place. Two laps later Lanik closed the gap and overtook and moved up to a comfortable 6th position. Niki finished the race in 6th out of 30 starters with a personal best lap under 0.2 seconds off the fastest lap. “It was a fantastic race, and with the four clean overtaking manoeuvres it was fun, and once again a serious improvement from Friday’s testing.” said Austrian-born Niki.
70,000 enthusiasts turned up for Round 12 at Silverstone, accompanied by world-wide TV coverage. The Clio Cup supported the Renault World Series – a formula championship which is one step under Formula 1. Ashurst Wood-based Niki Lanik started 8th out of 30 starters and made a great start, moving into 6th place by Copse, the first corner.
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Coming towards the end of lap one, another driver and Niki went side by side around Luffield, a 180 degree U-turn, where Niki got the better run out to secure 5th place. A series of safety-car incidents made sure the pack of Clios stayed together for the exciting 31-minute race.
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Lanik was continuously battling for 3rd place with Phil Glew and Paul Rivett, double National Clio Champion. On the last lap after Bridge corner there was contact between Glew and Rivett, both desperate for securing 3rd place. Two-tenths of a second behind, MacDowall in 6th and Niki in 5th, both avoided the incident, but as Glew came back on Lanik had to take avoiding action when suddenly he got a bump from behind and Lanik shot off into the gravel pit two corners before the chequered flag. “It was a tough weekend, but it’s great to see I was able to learn a challenging circuit so quickly. Coming from 20th place in testing to battling for a podium place in the second race is brilliant. It was a shame how the second race ended, as I was actually in 3rd place for about half a second, but on the other hand, four drivers went for that 3rd place podium finish, and this was a great effort to entertain the crowd. I also set the 3rd fastest ideal lap time, which certainly is a confidence boost.” commented Lanik about his first outing on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
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THE Youth For Human Rights Miracle Drywash Race Team promotes the international Youth For Human Rights campaign – www.YouthForHumanRights.org. The team sponsors include Miracle Drywash (www.MiracleDrywash.com), GridGirlz (www.GridGirlz.co.uk), G&G Vitamins (www.GandGVitamins.com), Wealden Workwear (www.WWPE.co.uk), and Luxury Sign Design (www.lsdsign.co.uk). If you would like to sponsor Niki Lanik, e-mail him on niki@lanik.info.
NIKI Lanik and the Y4HR Miracle Drywash Race Team are next racing and supporting the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton in Norfolk on 12/13 July. This race weekend attracts more than 35,000 live spectators and world-wide TV coverage. For more information about the team or the Clio Cup visit www.Y4HR.com or www.renaultsport.co.uk.
.HIGH RESOLUTION (AND COPYRIGHT FREE) PHOTOS AVAILABLE ON: HTTP://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/Y4HR-RACING-TEAM/ |
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