BUSHELL PLANS TO STAY IN CLIO CUP

Mike Bushell plans to compete in the Renault UK Clio Cup again next season after missing out on a second title in dramatic circumstances last weekend.

Bushell was on the back foot after spinning off behind the safety car in the first race at Brands Hatch but he was then the unfortunate victim in race two. Paul Rivett attempted an opportunistic move on Ant Whorton-eales at Graham Hill Bend, sending Whorton-eales sideways. As he rejoined the track he hit Bushell and speared the Pyro driver into the barriers, ending his title hopes.

Whorton-eales eventually won by eight points but the disappointment has made Bushell, the 2014 champion, more determined to secure a second crown. “Having not come away with the title I’m now more hungry to come back and get a second one,” he said. “Then I would retire from Clios!

“It’s nice to come back into the series and get second – in my first two years of Clios I didn’t finish in the top 10.”

Bushell added that he felt his season struggling towards the back of the British Touring Car Championship in an AMD Ford Focus put him at a disadvantage for this year. “Racing in an uncompetitive car in BTCC affected my racecraft a little bit, while Ant was racing the two Ashes [Sutton and Hand in Clios],” he said.

Meanwhile Whorton-eales is now targeting a switch to the BTCC for next season but admitted he was surprised at the way he won the title.

“That was unbelievable,” he said. “You think of all the possibilities that could happen but I never thought of that. I knew the contact was going to come and I went into Graham Hill Bend hard hoping they would miss me.

“I couldn’t believe I tagged Mike as I came back on – I’m gutted to see his race end like that.”