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| Race Report - Rounds 17 & 18 - Brands Hatch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paul on winning form at Brands Hatch The second visit of the year for the Elf Renault Clio Cup to Brands Hatch brought another win for Paul. His pace was clear with a double pole in qualifying. The first race at Brands Hatch was a case of 'so near, yet so far' for Paul. Starting from the front spot, Paul put his Nuts sponsored Clio into Paddock Hill Bend ahead of the pack, despite a challenge from Tom Onslow-Cole. An early burst of pace was not quite enough for Paul to break away from second placed Stephen Colbert, who managed to squeeze inside Onslow-Cole on the first lap. Colbert, Onslow-Cole and Martin Byford swapped second place throughout the course of the race, but it was Onslow-Cole who brought the challenge to Paul in the second half of the race. It took until lap 20 for Onslow-Cole to find a way past. He moved on to the inside line at Paddock and was able to squeeze past at Druids. Later on the same lap, it got worse for Paul, when Colbert hit Paul at Graham Hill Bend, sending the Boulevard Team Racing Clio into the side of Mark Speller and then off on to the grass at Surtees, dropping him down to fifth, with no time remaining to make the places up again. "Stephen went for a space that wasn't really there", said Paul. "It's a shame because we were pretty quick and I thought I'd done enough to keep them behind me. It's disappointing because we had the pace." If race one was frustrating, then race two was the perfect remedy. Another strong start put Paul in the lead at the first corner and he never looked back. Behind him, Tom Onslow-Cole, Martin Byford and Stephen Colbert slowed each other down as they fought for second, leaving Paul all alone out at the front. A 1.8 second lead at the end of lap three became more than four seconds by the end of the race, making it an easy fifth win of the year for Paul. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop Onslow-Cole being crowned champion after Paul's run of misfortune earlier on the year. "It's good to get the win", said Paul after the race. "It was a pretty easy race really. I tried not to look in my mirrors too much, because I didn't want to see how far back they were. I was a bit worried the safety car was going to come out when Martin [Johnson] went off at Paddock, but fortunately it didn't." "It was a good way to end the weekend. Hopefully we can go to Silverstone and end the year with a couple more wins." The final two races of the season take place at Silverstone over the weekend of 14/15 October. |
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