James Dixon rounded off his season in perfect style by taking victory in Round 20 of the 2010 Elf Renault Clio Cup with Michelin at Brands Hatch. After a dominant win in the weekend's earlier race, Dixon repeated the trick in the final race of the season with a lights to flag win in front of over 42,000 fans at his local circuit.
Dixon, who is based in nearby Stockbury and works at the circuit, started on pole for the second time in the weekend, with Josh Cook once again alongside him. Paul Rivett had qualified second fastest, but was demoted two grid places after contact with Cook in the weekend's first race.
As the race began, it was Cook who got the best start and quickly attacked for the lead, trying to drive around the outside of Dixon at Paddock Hill. Dixon held him off though, with Cook holding onto second ahead of a charging Jack Goff. A great start for the Team Pyro man had seen him leap up from sixth on the grid into third, but he was soon pushed down a spot, with Rivett passing him at Surtees on the opening lap.
While Goff was moving up the field, Mike Robinson was heading down it, with a poor opening lap seeing him drop from third on the grid to twelfth. He quickly worked about regaining some places, passing Matthew Munson and Patrick Collins, before passing Jake Packun at Paddock Hill on lap five for ninth.
Leader Dixon began to break away from Cook in second, who was beginning to come under immense pressure from Stancombe Vehicle Engineering's Rivett. The pressure told on lap eight, with the 31 year old sliding past at Druids on lap eight for second.
Behind them, Goff was running solidly in fourth, with newcomer to the series Jason Mills driving superbly to hold fifth, ahead of Meridian Motorsport's Rob Gaffney. A superb three car battle was emerging behind, between Lee Pattison, James Colburn and the recovering Robinson. Robinson got the upper hand on Colburn, before getting past Pattison on lap seventeen after the JHR Developments driver received a black and orange flag due to a flailing rear bumper.
At the front, Dixon was able to control his gap over Rivett over the last few laps to ensure he crossed the line for his second win of the weekend, winning the Graduate Cup honours in the process, while also setting the NGK fastest lap of the race. Rivett crossed the line to take another hard earned podium in second.
Sax Max Champion Cook held on to third to record a podium in only his fourth ever Clio Cup race,with his superb performance earning him the ELF/Atol Driver of the Meeting award. Behind, Goff and Mills picked up their career best finishes in fourth and fifth respectively, with Gaffney picking up his best result of the season in sixth. Robinson recovered to seventh, with Colburn eighth. After a great battle throughout the race, Jake Packun finished ninth ahead of newcomer Craig Currie and Patrick Collins, though eleventh place was enough to see Collins pick up the Masters Cup honours for the first time.
