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| Race Report - Rounds 5 & 6 - Thruxton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ups and downs for Paul at Thruxton Qualifying saw Paul take a pair of front-row grid positions, with second for race one and pole position for race two. Pole position for the first race was taken by Michael Doyle, while championship rival Tom Onslow-Cole could only manage fourth fastest for both races. The signs were not good for Paul ahead of race one, as a repeat of Oulton Park's first race non-start threatened. However, Paul was able to take up his spot on the grid this time around, and assumed third position from the start, behind JHR Racing Developments pairing of Steven Hunter and Michael Doyle. Paul challenged the lead pair on the opening lap, but his efforts were thwarted as the bonnet on his Clio started to flap. "It's not what you want around here", said Paul after the race. "I had my visor down and I was ducking down behind the steering wheel in case it came up along the straight." In addition to the bonnet troubles, the electrical gremlins refused to go away, making it a hard task for Paul to challenge at the front. It was enough to slow Paul down, allowing Onslow-Cole to find a way past. Both drivers picked up a place as Michael Doyle lost out at the complex. Onslow-Cole was then able to accelerate away as Paul continued to struggle with his problems, forcing him to defend from a train of cars behind. Losing speed along the straights, Paul fended off Mark Speller for third place on four consecutive laps. On the penultimate lap, Doyle flew into the final corner too fast, cutting straight across the chicane as he tried to pass Paul. On the final lap, Paul tried hard to defend again, but just lost out to Stephen Colbert for third position, by less than a tenth of a second. "It's another result that we could have done without really", said Paul. "We've had problems with the car at every race and it's probably cost us the championship already if we're honest. It's so frustrating because we were quickest in testing." Sunday's race was somewhat more positive. Starting from pole position, Paul emerged second on the exit from the first corner, with just Steven Hunter ahead of him. There was contact among some of the leaders as they went through the complex for the first time, and Paul found himself in third, but perhaps thankful to avoid a worse fate. It was not long before Paul was back up to second, with a well-timed move at the chicane. Tom Onslow-Cole passed Doyle at the same time to stay right with Paul. The story of the remaining ten laps was the battle between Paul and Onslow-Cole for second position. With Hunter out on his own at the front, this was about championship points. Paul defended his position lap after lap. Onslow-Cole tried every possible line at the chicane, but Paul had them all covered. The last few laps were particularly tense, but Paul held on to the chequered flag, to gain precious championship points over Onslow-Cole. "I was just getting hit so many times. It's not the ideal way to go racing, but it was great fun. I really enjoyed that one. It was hard work all the way. Steve [Hunter] managed to get away and drove a great race. Tom and I were scrapping like mad behind. He just couldn't find a way through anywhere. I think he just got a bit frustrated and started hitting me." "We got some good points, gained a couple on Tom, so it's the start of our claw-back hopefully." "I think I had every angle covered. There was the odd time when he did get alongside, but there was no way around. One lap, we were side by side at Church. People say you can't go through there two wide, but we just proved them wrong." After a frustrating race on Saturday, the result in the second race went some way to restoring Paul's confidence in his title challenge: "It's been an up and down weekend again this weekend. We've lost points where the championship is concerned, but there are 14 more races yet. It's not over by a long way." The championship continues for the Clio racers over the weekend of 17/18 June, when the visit Knockhill for the Scottish Renault festival. |
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