COATES HITS OUT AT YOUNG OVER CLASH
Young excluded after Renault UK Clio Cup title rivals collide at final corner
Renault UK Clio Cup title contender Max Coates has hit out at his rival Jack Young’s “unacceptable” move at the final corner of the second race at Thruxton last weekend.
Coates failed to finish the contest after being pitched into a spin at the Club chicane by MRM driver Young on the last lap. Coates tried to continue but was unable to and Young crossed the line as the winner before being excluded post-race.
This was just the latest incident between the pair as Young had twice been penalised at the previous round at Snetterton for contact with Coates.
“This decision doesn’t give me my win back, it doesn’t pay to repair the damage,” said Coates. “I feel like I’m quite a clean driver but the same standard isn’t there from the rest – it’s unacceptable.
“It was a fantastic race until the crunch point. I had a good run coming out of Church and he was looking to come round the outside of me and I thought I had that covered off. He tried down the inside but there wasn’t a gap.
“I’m now kicking myself for not managing to get it across the line – all sorts of alarms were going off [in the car].”
Young appealed the exclusion to the stewards, believing he wasn’t at fault, but was unsuccessful.
“We were coming through Church and he was defending from me,” said Young. “I switched places, as he moved across the track, and he just turned in on me. As far as I’m concerned I didn’t do anything wrong.”
After the exclusion, Coates now leads the standings by six points over Young, but Coates’s Team Hard team-mate Jamie Bond is now only 32 adrift despite missing the opening Brands Hatch races.