More points for Paul at Oulton Park

Second place in round eight was the highlight of the weekend for Paul - a weekend that was marred by an incident early on in the first race that saw him dropped to 12th position by the end of the opening lap.

Starting third on the grid behind Jonathon Adam and Matt Allison, Paul went in to Old Hall for the first time looking good to hold his starting position. However, Ed Pead, starting down in sixth closed on the leaders and made an over-zealous move that resulted in contact and a real shake-up at the front.

On track Paul was soon working his way back up through the field but the task was not an easy one. By the end of the race he was up to sixth, with only the chequered flag preventing him from setting about making amends with Pead in fifth.

Pead was later fined for the first-lap incident but was not handed a penalty in terms of his finishing position. Paul commented: "It wasn't a great result. Sixth place - it's the first race I've finished where I've not been on the podium, and it's purely through the fault of other drivers."

In the second race of the weekend, Paul lined up in pole position, with Jonathon Adam alongside him. It was Adam who made the slightly better start to move in to the lead however. The pair then proceeded to move away from the pack behind them, steadily opening up a gap over Stephen Hunter, Pead and the rest that followed. Paul and Adam took it in turns to outpace each other over the following lap, with the gap remaining between three tenths and a second.

The race continued behind with Hunter fending off Pead as the Mardi Gras driver tried everything to get past. He made a high-speed exit on to the grass at one point, and was lucky not to head in to the tyre barrier. Eventually surrendering the place, Hunter became involved in a battle further down the order, before eventually being the cause of the red flags the brought the race to a premature end. He spectacularly fired his Clio in to the tyre wall, spinning it around and just remaining on four wheels.

The race result was declared after eight laps, with Paul continuing to pressure Adam. "It's a shame the red flags came out when they did", he said. "I was hoping they wouldn't because I was catching Jonathon pretty well. There was a lot of oil down on the track and it is much easier to chase than to be chased. I made a lot of ground on him the last time through the oil, and I think I could have caught him. It is a good result though - it's just a shame about yesterday's race."

The results leave Paul in second position in the championship, with Ed Pead leading, although each driver has three scores to drop at the end of the season. The next two races take place next weekend at Thruxton at the Renault Festival.

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