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| Race Report - Rounds 15 & 16 - Brands Hatch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paul wins at Brands to move into championship lead
The first race of the weekend saw Paul line up third on the grid with championship rivals Ed Pead and Jonathan Adam on the front row. Adam got away in the lead with Pead in second. Richard Williams slipped past Paul to take third spot in to the first corner. There was little time for the race to get in to a rhythm however, as Fulvio Mussi buried his Clio in to the barrier at the entry to Paddock Hill Bend on lap two, bringing the safety car out on to the track. After the restart, Paul put Williams under pressure, attempting to pass the SpeedEquipe driver first on the inside at Druids, and then on the outside on the following lap. It was the latter that gave him the advantage to make a move later in the lap, taking the inside line at Clearways as Williams made a mistake. Paul finally took third position away from Williams as the pair ran through Paddock Bend next time around. During the remaining couple of laps, Paul closed on Pead in second, but the gap was just too much around the short Indy circuit. Jonathan Adam took the win, with Pead second and Paul third. Following the race, Paul said: "It was a bit disappointing really. I could have done with a bit of a better result than that. I was losing about a tenth of a second each lap to Jonathan [Adam] and Ed [Pead]." With Adam and Pead gaining points over Paul in race one, Sunday's race became even more important for the championship. Before the race, Paul cited a win as being his only target. And that is exactly what he got. In almost a mirror image of what happened to Paul at Knockhill, Ed Pead failed to make the grid for the race, with his Clio proving troublesome ahead of the start. When the race itself started, Paul was on the front row alongside Adam, and was in the lead by the time the pack went through Paddock for the first time, despite not making the best of starts - a shove from behind from Ian Curley helped give Paul the momentum he needed to edge through to the front. Paul proceeded to drive an almost inch-perfect race as both Adam and Nick Adcock tried in vain to find a way past Paul's Boulevard Team Racing Clio. Paul said: "It definitely wasn't easy. If I had made the slightest mistake they would have been through. We weren't quickest but I got the lead at the start. Curley gave me a big whack off the line which got me through in to the lead. Then I had Nick behind me for the first half and Jonathan behind me for the second half. I just about managed to hold them both off." "Nick was struggling to find a way past me, so he let Jonathan through to have a go and then he couldn't either. They were both very quick and pretty evenly matched. I think I was driving the widest Clio on the racetrack, that's for sure! Especially on the last corner." I was a bit disappointed with third yesterday but to come back and get a win today is just what we needed, especially as we weren't quickest. It was a hard-fought race and it was very enjoyable to drive. We're leading the championship on dropped scores now, so that is definitely a good result." It remains tight at the top of the championship table. When dropped scores are taken in to account Paul currently holds an eight point lead over Jonathan Adam in second, with Pead a further seven points behind. With four races and 136 points remaining, the title fight looks set to go to the final round at Donington Park. Rounds 17 & 18 of the championship take place at Snetterton, Norfolk over the weekend of 4/5 September. |
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Returning to Brands Hatch for the second time this year, Paul was looking to close the gap on championship leader Ed Pead, with series newcomer Jonathan Adam also in contention. Having suffered from an intermittent problem at Knockhill that prevented him taking the start of the first race up in Scotland, every result counts now for Paul.
