Two strong results have helped lift Paul Rivett to second in the Renault UK Clio Cup standings as the championship resumed at Snetterton after its summer break.
Rivett’s weekend got off to a difficult start as the three-time champion was only able to qualify seventh for both races. With overtaking sometimes tricky at the Norfolk track, Rivett knew that getting a good result would be difficult.
“I was just a bit unlucky,” he explained. “I had seven flying laps and had traffic and spinners on four of those and I lost one for track limits so that left me with two.”
Despite making a good initial start to the first race, Rivett soon found himself back in ninth after contact with Max Coates at Williams forced him wide. But from there he put in another of his good recovery drives to rise back up through the order.
He was aided by a clash between Jack McCarthy and James Dorlin and Rivett then passed WDE Motorsport team-mate Dan Zelos on the last lap at Agostini to finish fifth.
Rivett had it all to do again in race two but by the end of the first lap he was already up to sixth. That quickly became fifth after another Agostini overtake – this time on McCarthy – and shortly afterwards Rivett pulled off a brilliant move around the outside of Brundle to pass Dorlin.
Then when team-mate Lee Pattison slowed with a mechanical problem at mid-distance, Rivett inherited third and stayed there to the chequered flag to complete an impressive comeback drive – even surviving a hairy moment at Wilson when he clipped the kerb and the car came close to rolling.
But after breaking his own lap record in the first race, Rivett was left thinking what might have been.
“Qualifying that bad affected my weekend,” he said. “It’s a shame as I think I had the pace to take it to [Mike] Bushell.
“I bent the steering with a bit of contact in race two but I’m quite happy with that and from seventh to fifth in race one.”
With Bushell winning both races, the Pyro driver is now 98 points clear of Rivett at the top of the standings.
The next rounds of the season take place at Rockingham on August 26/27.