More wins for Lawson and Rivett at Croft
After a brilliantly sunny day for qualifying, race day saw the Croft circuit drenched with torrential rain, leaving Round 9 of the SEAT Cupra Championship delayed by over an hour. The early rain had further consequences too, as timetable alterations meant that Round 10 could not happen. Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) won’t be complaining though, having received the hearty cheers of his local fans from the top step of the podium and enjoying a short journey home to celebrate his increased lead in the driver standings.
Round 9 started under the guidance of the safety car that peeled off after three laps to leave Lawson heading into Clervaux as the only driver with a ‘clear view’ of the track. Behind him the spray created from the carbon fibre rear diffusers of these powerful race cars forced windscreen wipers into overdrive as the drivers concentrated on staying on track. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) stuck to his JHR team-mate’s tail and had Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) and Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing) doing much the same to his right until the finish line where they crossed it in that order.
There was plenty of action further down the field though with James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools/JHR) and Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) being the main entertainers. Welch had pinched Appleby’s 6th place early on but a gutsy manoeuvre from young Appleby saw him take it back, going side by side with Welch along the start/finish straight and heading into Clervaux with plenty of opposite lock needed to almost rally cross the Cupra out of the other side ahead. At Hairpin on the last lap Welch made a move on Appleby to take it back and although he crossed the line ahead, a later ruling on it gave Welch a one second penalty to hand Appleby 6th and push Welch back to 7th.
The JHR team left Croft certainly the happiest having all three of their drivers finishing in the top six and Lawson increasing his championship lead over Byford to 28 points. With a long break now until Snetterton all the drivers will have plenty of time to prepare for the second half of the season though which could mean the likes of Byford, Breeze or Adam could still have the last laugh.
Andrew Herron: “I was extremely cautious for the first couple of laps and used Robert as a marker. I was comfy sitting behind him, if I’d pushed then Adam and Byford could have caught up so I was happy to settle for a one two for the team.”
Robert Lawson: “There was a bit of a wait but it worked out well for me. You have to be careful with braking zones as it’s easy to lock up your wheels. It was a case of I was in the position I needed to be in and I’m chuffed to pieces with the win for the team.”
ROUND 9
1. Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…21:20.723
2. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…21:21.857
3. Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing)…21:23.011
4. Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing)…21:23.835
5. Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport)…21:25.438
6. James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools/JHR)…21:27.450
Fastest Lap: Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…1:35.058
Rivett Returns To Top Step At Croft
Double former champion Paul Rivett (Banstead) got his 2008 title hopes back on track with victory in round nine of the ELF Renault Clio Cup at Croft circuit on Saturday, 31st May. The 2002 and 2004 champion, racing for JHR Developments, led home Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford) in a season’s best second place with Team Pyro’s championship leader Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) in third.
After the race, a protest by Winrow regarding an overtaking move by Glew on the first lap was upheld by the Clerk of the Course. The Clerk imposed a time penalty to reverse the finishing positions, placing Winrow second and Glew third.
Earlier in the day, an appeal to the Stewards of the Meeting saw Winrow given a 30-second penalty for a false start in round eight at Thruxton, reducing his lead in the drivers’ standings to 54 points at the start of the race. Rivett’s win and Winrow’s second place brings the margin down to 48 prior to round 10 on Sunday, 1st June.
At the start of round nine, Rivett made a clean getaway from pole position to lead Winrow into the first corner.
The 28-car field navigated the first corner Clervaux and then Hawthorn, but a three-car incident involving Full Speed’s Peter Felix (Allestree), JHR’s Mark Hazell (Llanhennock) and Mardi Gras Motorsport’s David Dickenson (Keatingstown) saw the Safety Car deployed. At the end of the lap,
The race restarted on lap four with Rivett immediately opening a half-second gap over Glew with Winrow a similar distance behind in third, coping with damaged steering.
JHR’s Steven Hunter (Dronfield), attempting to come through from the back of the grid after an electrical problem in qualifying, locked his brakes into the Hairpin to lose ground as he went for 17th place.
On lap seven of the extended 14-lap race, Rivett increased his lead over Glew to one second having already posted the NGK fastest lap of the race on lap five at 1min 33.489s (81.82mph).
While drivers swapped places behind, Rivett drove a flawless race to take victory by 1.452s. Commenting on his lights-to-flag win, Rivett said: “It was a perfect race from my point of view, I can’t remember having a ‘moment’ or making even a slight error anywhere. After the restart, I opened a gap to Phil and then eased off to manage the distance but never felt under threat.”
Rivett Completes Croft Double In Round Ten
JHR Developments’ Paul Rivett (Banstead) ensured he took maximum points away from Croft circuit with a second victory of the weekend in round 10 of the 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup. The double former champion led home Team Pyro’s Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) and Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford) in a repeat of the round nine result.
Rivett set the fastest lap in each race to score a total of four bonus championship points, cutting Winrow’s lead in the drivers’ standings to 42 points at the halfway stage of the 20-race season.
A difficult day that saw torrential rain disrupt the running order of the British Touring Car Championship meeting of which Clio Cup is a support race meant round 10 took place at 17.30 rather than the scheduled 15.45. By the time the race started a dry racing line was established for the 12-lap race.
Pole-sitter Winrow held off the challenge of Rivett at the first corner as the pair ran side by side for much of the opening lap.
Winrow was exerting full effort in the early stages in an attempt to drive away from the field as he had done previously in the course of recording five wins this season. A huge slide at the Complex on lap two saw him concede some of his lead over Rivett.
Further down the order, JHR Developments’ Steven Hunter (Dronfield), who started from the back of the grid after an electrical problem in qualifying, reached 16th place by lap four that became 13th place by lap six.
At the head of the field, Winrow continued to lead Rivett but was unable to open a significant advantage. Lap six saw Rivett set a new lap record of 1min 33.008s (82.24mph) as he continued to pile pressure onto race leader Winrow.
The pressure told at the start of lap seven as Winrow clipped the kerb at Clervaux too hard, turning him sideways into a slide he did well to recover. The loss of momentum allowed Rivett to sail through into the lead and consistent lap times from the 29-year-old saw him through to the chequered flag with little fuss.
The 12th and final lap saw Rivett extend his lead slightly to 1.5s over Winrow as Glew remained less than a car’s length ahead of Lanik. Confusion surrounded the end of the race as the chequered flag was not deployed at the end of the 12th lap. Rivett, believing the race was over, slowed to celebrate as he crossed the line and although the field continued racing for a further lap, the result was declared as it stood at the end of lap 12.
Commenting on the race, Paul Rivett said: “Ben got away a bit early on but I knew he was getting near the limit from the way the back of his car was moving around. It was a case of waiting for the mistake that eventually came and gifted me the win. This weekend was exactly what I needed from a championship point of view and hopefully I can do the same next week.”
Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup take place in just one week’s time at Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in support of the UK round of World Series by Renault.
2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup provisional drivers’ standings – round 10
1 Ben Winrow GBR Team Pyro 279 pts
2 Paul Rivett GBR JHR Developments 237 pts
3 Phil Glew GBR Full Speed Racing 184 pts
4 Carl Bradley GBR Coastal Racing 151 pts
5 Árón Smith IRL Mardi Gras Motorsport 135 pts
6 Niki Lanik AUT Y4HR Miracle Drywash with SVE 119 pts