Smith was building heat in his Team Pyro car’s tyres but lost control, span and T-boned the left-hand driver’s side door of Rivett’s WDE Motorsport machine – the incident triggering an immediate halt to the session.
Rivett was able to join the session after hasty repairs in the pit lane but Smith – whose car suffered front-end damage – never resurfaced.
“I am absolutely furious!” blasted Rivett (pictured). “What was he doing? He drove me off the track at Brands Hatch a fortnight ago and now he’s taken me out again.”
Smith accepted responsibility for the unfortunate collision: “Paul did nothing wrong – 100 per cent my fault. I tried to apologise to him later but he didn’t want to know which I can appreciate…
“I was weaving to put heat into the tyres, lost the rear end and was never going to catch it from there.
“It was a full T-bone into the side of his car at probably 70mph and the front-end of my car is a mess too.”
– www.renaultsport.co.uk