British driver, ‘Speedy’ Dan Clarke, was forced to retire from the Grand Prix of Houston Champ Car race today, after another weekend of hard racing with Minardi Team USA at the downtown street circuit in the American city. Clarke raced on the temporary street circuit last year and returned this year aiming to conquer the challenging track, but his efforts were thwarted with a difficult weekend for the young racer.
The opening day of practice and qualifying was a time for Clarke to learn the characteristics of the car on the bumpy track, and use this experience for the provisional grid-setting session, but traffic and yellow flags cost Clarke his strongest lap and he was forced to settle for 15th place. On Saturday Clarke continued with his race preparations, improving his pace in the final two practice periods with sixth and tenth fastest times. In the final qualifying session Clarke was unable to translate this performance into a strong starting spot, with a red flag and traffic hampering the Brit’s efforts, and result in a 12th place grid slot for the Houston race.
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