RIVETT DELIVERS A CLIO MASTERCLASS
Three-time champ bags two podiums to head points
The results sheets may suggest comfortable wins for Paul Rivett and Max Coates in the opening races of the Clio Cup season, but that doesn’t tell the full story of two frenetic contests.
The first was red flagged after just three laps following a typical Brands Hatch Clio roll.
The victim this time was Brett Lidsey, whose car flipped over after hitting the barriers backwards out of Druids following contact with Zak Fulk.
But already in that time, Rivett had managed to storm into second after staying around the outside all the way from Paddock Hill Bend and up through Druids to pass Jack Mccarthy and Sam Osborne for second place.
Three-time champion Rivett was again looking racy on the restart and on lap two dived down the inside of leader Coates at Paddock.
But Coates never allowed Rivett to escape and with three laps to go made an attempt to pass the WDE driver at Druids. He was too far back, though, and clattered into Rivett – gifting the Clio veteran a win, despite him missing virtually all of Friday testing with an actuator problem.
“We took a very different line – I tried a move and it didn’t work,” was Coates’ take on the attempted move. But it backfired badly for the Pyro driver as the contact damaged his steering.
This set up an incredible final few tours with a whole swarm of Clios ganging up on Coates.
He tried valiantly to hang on with his hobbled car, but ended up taking fifth after succumbing to James Colburn, Dan Rowbottom and Lee Pattison.
There were no such troubles for Coates in race two as he made a great start – beating poleman Mccarthy off the line – and stormed to an easy win.
“It was a change to have a clear race!” beamed Coates. “Apart from the little bump with Paul the weekend was pretty much perfect.”
But it was again frantic behind. Rivett made another great start and had climbed to third when he was the victim of contact with Pattison and Mccarthy at Graham Hill Bend that sent him wide and dropped him to sixth.
He didn’t stay there for long. Rivett pulled off a series of great moves, culminating in a pass on Mccarthy at Clearways to take second.
“I had three great starts, which is quite unusual for me,” joked Rivett. “We leave here leading the championship and I’m determined to get that fourth title this year.”
Mccarthy salvaged something from his weekend, after disappointing getaways in both races dropped him back from front-row starts, by claiming the final place on the podium ahead of former British Touring Car racer Mike Epps following more close battling.