Double Donington victory secures second Clio title for Paul

Victory in round 19 of the championship at Donington Park saw Paul crowned the 2004 Elf/BTE Lawline Renault Clio Cup, becoming the first driver to win Championship twice. As if that was not enough, he then went on to take a second win in Sunday's race to end the season with his most successful meeting of the year, taking his win tally to seven and ending up with a huge 47 point margin in the championship standings.

In a wet qualifying session on Saturday morning, Paul set-up his weekend in the best possible way, claiming a double pole-position, as the only driver to break the one minute thirty barrier - twice!

After qualifying, Paul said, "That is exactly what we wanted. Whatever the weather is, it's the same for everybody. That was great fun though. Even when we've struggled here, we always seem to finish on the podium. That was only qualifying though, we still have two races to go. It's going to be interesting, that's for sure."

The conditions had dried up by the time of the first race later in the day, but the notoriously slippery Donington track could still throw up a few surprises. Paul made a good start to the race and negotiated the first corner without any problems, but starting down in 10th position, Paul's main championship rival Jonathan Adam was not so lucky. His TCR Clio slid to the edge of the track and became embedded in the gravel trap on the outside of Redgate.

With Adam out of the race, it meant that Paul simply had to outscore Ed Pead to clinch the championship with a race to spare. Series returnee Mark Hunt led for the first half of the first lap but Paul was soon at the front of the pack.

Paul explains the race: "I had Richard behind me and I didn't want to push too hard because I knew the championship was there for the taking. He stayed on my bumper though so I just thought I'd pull over and let him through because we were pulling away from the rest of the field from what I could see. So I let him through and then I could see Ed in my mirrors. He was a long way back to start with but he was catching at a hell of a pace so I decided if I could I'd get back past Richard to make it safe and go out for the win. He made a little mistake on the way out of Coppice and I got through and that was that from there."

"I had to defend a couple of times. Redgate on the last lap was pretty hairy but we came out on top at the end. They slowed each other down when we all went into Redgate fighting for places which was just enough to take the pressure off on the last lap."

So Paul brought home his Clio for victory and championship glory, with Jonathan Adam amongst those applauding as he returned to the pitlane after the race.

"It's brilliant", said Paul after the race. "And what a race to win it with, too! I could see Jonathan had gone off at the beginning. I couldn't have asked for a better result."

With the title already secured, Sunday's race was a chance for Paul to enjoy getting out on the track, and starting from pole position again was an added bonus.

Similar to Saturday's race, Paul was headed in the early stages, this time by Michael Simpson, but not for long. He was soon in the lead of the race. There was a brief moment when Matt Allison managed to sneak past, but again, Paul made his way back into the lead on the same lap. He was not troubled during the second half of the race and managed to set a new lap record on his way to win number seven.

"It's great to end the year with another win", said Paul. "It has been a great year. Houseman Dry Lining and Team Boulevard have been great all along. It's fantastic to have won the championship again. We'll have to see what the future holds now."

Look for details of Paul's future plans right here on Paulrivett.com. Also, we'll take a look back over the 2004 season with Paul!

NEXT RACES Clio Cup 2010 Rnds 17 & 18 Silverstone 18/19 Sep