Paul Rivett kicked off his 2018 Renault UK Clio Cup campaign in style at Brands Hatch when he took victory at the first round of this eighteen round season.
The initial race had to be restarted after a rollover for Brett Lidsey on the opening lap.
During the race, WDE Motorsport driver Rivett survived contact from Max Coates at Druids with four laps to go and continued unaffected to the flag. However, the same can’t be said for Coates who sustained damage and dropped down the order to fifth as he crossed the finish line.
The top three places were completed by James Colburn of Westbourne Motorsport in second and Team Pyro man Daniel Rowbottom in third. This meant there were three different teams taking the steps to celebration on the podium.
Sam Osbourne looked like was the person to take the final podium spot, but a delay on the penultimate lap as Colburn completed his move into second meant that the battle to get past a wounded Coates contained a queue of eight cars.
Osbourne couldn’t get past Coates and dropped down to seventh behind Lee Pattison, Coates himself and newcomer to the championship Michael Epps.
At the finish line, the gap between third and tenth was covered by two seconds, highlighting the competitive championship we have in store for the rest of the season.
Speaking after his win, Rivett commented, “That reminded of Clio Cup races of old when I used to win by quite a decent margin,
“I was really pleased with my move on Max but I don’t feel the move he tried on me was really on – I’m just glad my car survived the contact. But what a start to the season for WDE on their home track.”
James Colburn talked about his decision to go for second, “It was clear Max was in trouble but I knew it was important not to make any rash moves.
but at the same time I had to get a move on with it because Osborne was right in there and everyone else was closing in. I’m just relieved with the way it worked out.”
After a surprising podium foray in race one. Daniel Rowbottom was pleased with his start to the season, “Starting P9 I didn’t really have high hopes for that one but somehow ended up in the right place at the right time at the end to scrape a decent result out of it.
“Getting decent points on the board on this first weekend is important so I’m satisfied with that result.”
