Rivett Takes The Title In The Brands Hatch Sunshine
In the blazing heat of Brands Hatch, only one could emerge as 2011 AirAsia Clio Cup Champion. After a dominant lights to flag victory, it was Lumison BlueSquare/Stancombe Vehicle Engineering’s Paul Rivett who claimed his third Clio Cup title. No other driver has taken the title three times before.
The prestigious honour could still be claimed by four drivers going into the race, but the odds were stacked in Rivett’s favour. He started from pole position, alone on the front row with Luke Wright’s forced absence. Smith would be starting directly behind in third, Colburn was back in sixth and James Dixon, who’s realistic chances had faded on Saturday, was in seventh.
Despite the stakes, Rivett never looked in danger. He made the perfect start, holding his lead into Paddock Hill Bend and pushing on from there. A Safety Car period, when Scuderia Vittorias Chris Smith ended his début weekend prematurely, backed the field up but Rivett was in dominant mood as he charged away from the restart. He eventually crossed the line 2.476 seconds in front of Jake Packun to take the win, the fastest lap, and the Championship of 2011.
“It’s such a brilliant feeling to win the 2011 championship,” he said. “If anything, this championship means more to me than any of the titles that I have won previously. I’m almost at the point where I am lost for words.”
“It was a great race today, I struggled to get off the line yesterday and that cost us the win. Today there were no issues, I was off the line like a rocket and that was it. I’m absolutely chuffed to get the fastest lap of the race, to end the season in style.”
Paul was also kind enough to speak to BTCC Crazy following his triumph, so keep an eye out for that interview coming soon.
Second place in the race was hotly contested throughout, between Get On Track Developments’ Jake Packun, and Team Pyro’s Aron Smith. With Packun racing for himself being out of the title picture, he looked in determined mood as he kept Smith behind him lap after lap after making a scintillating start to move him up the order into second. Smith attempted on several occasions to manufacture a pass, but it was a brilliant defensive drive from Packun that saw him equal his best finish of the season so far.
“I got a great start,” he said. “I couldn’t quite get in front of Paul like I had planned but remained on his bumper for the first three laps. After that, Paul showed blistering pace and pulled away. I just decided to drive my race and make no mistakes. Smith was right behind me for about 80 percent of the race and I managed to keep him at bay.”
For Smith, his title chances pulled away as Paul Rivett disappeared into the distance. The Irishman has been in fine form all season though, and after a nervy start where he dropped behind fellow title rival James Colburn, picked himself up and went down fighting. Going into Westfield, he put the move on Colburn to take third place back and set off after Packun. But try as he might, third was the best he could hope for following Packun’s splendid drive.
“I’m happy to have finished the championship in second position,” he said. “If someone told me at the start of the season that is where I would end up, so close to Paul going into the last race of the season then I would be absolutely over the moon.”
“I didn’t get the best of starts in the race itself, which hurt me a little bit. We came back, I got past James and I tried everything to get past Jake to enable me to get on to Paul but he didn’t leave me an inch. To come away from this weekend with a double podium is a brilliant result for me.”
Smith and Colburn both ended the season level on 348 points, in the end eight points back on Rivett. The fourth mathematical title contender, local favourite James Dixon, finished in sixth place in the race which dropped him back to fourth in the final standings.
Masters cup honours for both the race, and the season went to 20Ten Racing’s Darren Wilson. When rival Mark Proctor left it in the gravel at Clearways on lap nine, Wilson only needed to finish the race to emerge victorious.
“I didn’t think that I was going to do that well this weekend, as I knew that I was off the pace here,” he said. “I don’t think I’m brave enough around Brands Hatch, but it all seemed to come to me in the final race. I saw Proctor go off with about six laps to go and I knew that it was just a case of bringing the car home to receive the Cup.”
“Its an amazing feeling to win the Masters Cup today. I came into this championship a few years ago and the Cup didn’t exist. This year things have really come together for me and we have had some good results in the middle of the year, it means a lot to me.”
Away from Championship honours, the drive of the day went to Team Pyro’s Josh Files. After a rough start that saw him drop back to eleventh, Files got his head down and drove superbly making up six places to claim a well earned fifth place. That cemented his seventh place in the Championship standings, and also left him the top placed rookie. Having been on the podium twice this season, he will definitely be one to watch out for in 2012.
Sunday was also another good day for Ant Whorton-Eales (Scuderia Vittoria) and Rob Boston (JHR Developments). Both have shown tremendous pace since entering the season at Rockingham, and both claimed top ten finishes once again in seventh and eighth respectively. The pair should be exciting to watch if they can make the grid in 2012.
Rounding out the top ten, and capping his best weekend all season was TCR’s Nicolas Hamilton. Following on from his season best ninth yesterday, he capped his weekend with another top ten finish to leave himself with plenty to feel good about going into the winter.
And with that, the epic 2011 AirAsia Clio Cup season draws to a close. 29 different drivers have all taken to the track during the course of the season, proving that the series still attracts ambitious drivers looking to take the next step.
For full classification of race two see here
For full Championship standings see here
Photo Credit: Richard Devine
Richard Devine
