Two strong results for Paul Rivett at Rockingham have put him right back into the Renault UK Clio Cup title fight.

The Tachosys-sponsored driver had lost ground to points leader Max Coates at Snetterton with a non-score in the second race but he turned the tables in Northamptonshire and slashed Coates’ lead.

Rivett’s opening race actually got off to a difficult start as he fell from fifth to seventh on a chaotic opening lap, but the WDE Motorsport driver was soon recovering up the order with great pace.

He climbed to second and was right on the tail of eventual winner Dan Rowbottom on the final lap, while Coates retired.

“We were the fastest car out there but were involved in the first lap dramas and was pushed off and fell down to seventh,” said Rivett. “We then started picking them off one by one. I think one more corner and I would’ve got him but I couldn’t have lost out to a nicer man.”

Race two was a bit more of a struggle as he suffered bent steering after contact at the hairpin on the opening tour. That in turn led to Rivett overheating his tyres as he attempted to regain ground so by the time he was back up to fourth he couldn’t make any more progress.

But with Coates only finishing one place ahead, it was still a great weekend for the three-time Clio champion with him now just seven points adrift in the standings.

“I’m really happy with the weekend – I closed up by 20 points on Max and pulled away from [James] Dorlin,” he said. “I had some good solid results.”

And Rivett was even happier that the cars of the top three in the championship will be taken away and checked to make sure they are all equal before the next rounds at Silverstone on September 15/16.

“I’m really pleased Renault have impounded the cars of the top three in the championship for investigating,” he added.