Brands Brings The Tremendous Triple To Rivett
There is no-one in Clio Cup history who has achieved more title wins than Paul Rivett. On October 2nd 2011 at Brands Hatch, the Surrey driver claimed victory in the final round of the season and with it took his third Clio Cup title, seven years after the last one. Through one of the tightest finishes in the history of the Championship, Rivett triumphed to take the gold at the conclusion of the epic season. During his celebrations he took time out to talk to BTCC Crazy about this momentous occasion.
He came into the season finale on the back of, by his standards, a terrible weekend at Rockingham.
“It was very much damage limitation at Rockingham,” he said. “It’s not been the first time this year that we’ve had to look for damage limitation. I could have maybe tried to push slightly harder to get through, maybe one more car only in the race was as good as I was going to get at Rockingham. But, in doing that I could have risked going off.”
“The risk outweighed the rewards hopefully that’s proved to be the right decision by coming here and now taking the championship.”
The right decision indeed. Right from Friday afternoons free practice session, Rivett seemed to have that little bit extra over his rivals. The five title contenders were all showing signs of pace, but Paul held an edge which he carried over into a dominating qualifying session on Saturday. Claiming pole position for both races immediately put the experienced former Champion in the driving seat for the title.
Despite being on the brink of a famous third Championship crown, Rivett tries to keep his nerves and remembers the most important things about racing.
“I try not to get nervous or flustered before hand, but it is tricky when the championship is on the line.” he said.
“I try to always use the rule to remember that the main reason we come racing is to enjoy ourselves and winning is secondary. I’ve come and made sure I really enjoyed myself this weekend and we’ve won as well.”
Despite this, winning a title as prestigious as this is an emotional moment. After the race had ended, Rivett was full of emotion, and full of praise for the hard working Stancombe Vehicle Engineering team that has prepared his Championship winning car.
“It’s been seven years now since i won a clio cup championship and its great have had the opportunity to be back out there again,” he said.
“Three championships hopefully that proves I can come and race with the big boys in touring cars at some point, but we’ll have to wait and see on that one. The Lumison BlueSquare Data car has been absolutely brilliant all year long. We’ve had a few lows due to a few problems mid-season and started 25% of the races from the back of the grid. Not normally what you’d hear from a champion at the end of the year but we’ve managed to put it together and do it. Stancombe Vehicle Engineering have done an absolutely great job with the car.”
“I had tears in my eyes on the slow down lap coming back in. I had to make sure i sorted that out before I got out the car on live TV, but it really has been a magic weekend.”
Special mention is due to the team down at Stancombe Vehicle Engineering. One of the most entertaining and popular crews in the paddock, there is never a dull moment in their garage. A title success was just reward for a season of hard toil preparing the car.
“You can’t beat the guys down there at Stancombe Vehicle Engineering,” he said. “Colin runs an absolutely superb race team that provides race cars that are absolutely spot on and a great deal of fun is always had there. If you’re not having fun you’re not allowed in the team and thats a rule pretty much!”
Despite the 2011 season having barely reached it’s conclusion, the talk is already of who will be doing what in 2012. With clear BTCC ambitions, many would expect Paul to finally make that jump. But, the Triple Champion is slightly more grounded, and isn’t yet committing to any plans for the 2012 season.
“At the moment im really not sure. It all depends financially what we can get together for next year. At the moment i have nothing planned at all for next year” he said.
“Probably more likely to see me out in a Clio Cup car than a Touring Car that’s for sure!”
All at BTCC Crazy would like to congratulate Paul on his Championship victory.
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey
Richard Devine
