JDC Racing earns podium finish in second race of the season

A third place in their second ever Citroen C1 race this weekend, saw an excellent start to the racing season for Newhey based JDC Racing in the C1 Club Racing Series.

JDC Racing, who have switched from racing an MG ZR, ran their newly built Citroen C1 in two 3-hour races on Saturday, races which would see numerous pit stops, for refuelling and driver changes.

The team put out three experienced drivers: Nick Halstead, 2018 Ginetta GT5 Champion; Gary Mitchell, experienced Rallycross racer and Mike Close, Mazda MX5 Racer.

On what must have been the wettest day of the year, the JDC Racing car, number 490, managed to record tenth on the grid in qualifying out of 37 starters. The quickest times were set early on and a number of red flags stopped the session as the rain kept falling.

Race one got off to a hairy start, as 37 Citroen C1s all hurtled in to the first bend.

Despite some close racing and a nudge from another car, the number 490 for JDC Racing managed to move up to third place on the first lap, a place they held for the first hour, until the first pit stops started which dropped the 490 car down to 11th.

A spirited drive over the next hour and half saw the team climb back up to sixth overall before the final pitstop. Unfortunately, an error in the last pitstop caused the team to drop to 15th; but a good last 30 minutes saw the team climb back up to 13th at the end of the first three hours as the chequered flag dropped.

Race two started as the rain started to ease, with the grid positions being determined from the finishing positions of race one, this meant the 490 JDC Racing car lined up 13th on the grid, another great start from Halstead, using his front running Ginetta and C1 experience to good use, saw the team jump to tenth in the opening lap.

A safety car on lap four saw a number of cars pit, but JDC Racing decided to stay on track and when the racing restarted three laps later, Halstead managed to battle up to second.

After a very close battle for lap after lap, the 490 JDC Racing car managed to snatch the lead, something that would switch backwards and forwards over the next few laps.

Lap 13 saw the second safety car period of the race and the team decided to pit for the first of its three mandatory driver changes, with Close taking over from Halstead.

Close, an experienced MX5 racer, knew the track well, and set about a determined drive to pull the 490 car back up the order. A good stint without safety saw the JDC Racing car shoot up the order, with some courageous overtakes along the way, the car was pitted on lap 38 having managed to claw its way from 22nd back to fourth.

Exiting the pits in 9th, the team knew that if they kept out of trouble they could battle for a podium.

This time it was experienced C1 and Rallycross Racer, Gary Mitchell’s turn to showcase his bravery and overtaking prowess, with some exceptional overtakes into Tower bend to both gain position and to manoeuvre his way through lapped traffic.

Third position was well within Mitchells grasp until an unfortunate spin dropped the car back to fourth.

A final drive pitstop, with a quick refuel, saw the team come out of the pits in sixth with 20 minutes left to run and it was that quick refuel that became the pivotal point of the team’s race.

With under 10 minutes left to race, a number of competitors started to fall down the leaderboard due to running out of fuel, which elevated the JDC Racing team to third, a position that they would hold until the end of the race.

Team manager Joe Cruttenden said: “This has been a brilliant day and a wonderful result.

“When we looked at racing a C1 three years ago it was a very small acorn, so we went to two years racing an MGZR, but at the end of last year we saw how popular this form of close racing was, so we took the plunge to run a C1.

“The drivers wrung as much out of the car as possible and came home on the podium.

“Great team work in the pits and on the track.”

“The next meeting will be a 24 hour race, using the full GP Silverstone circuit, 26 – 28 April, with over 116 Citroen C1 cars all starting in one race.”