Third Victory secures Third Title for Rivett.

Paul Rivett (Lumison BlueSquare Data/Stancombe Vehicle Engineering) secured his third victory of the 2011 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK during the final round of the season at Brands Hatch. His determined drive brought him the ultimate reward – his third Clio Cup title, and a small piece of history. No driver in the history of the series has secured more titles than Rivett.

Brands Hatch was basked in late summer sunshine and the iconic Kent circuit played out one of the most exciting season finales in recent history as four drivers all headed into the finale with a shot of securing the Championship honours, and join the likes of Tom Onslow-Cole, Martin Byford and Dave Newsham – all three drivers secured the Clio Cup crown before moving into the BTCC.

“It’s such a brilliant feeling to win the 2011 championship,” said Rivett. “If anything, this championship means more to me than any of the titles that I have won previously. I’m almost at the point where I am lost for words.

“It was a great race today, I struggled to get off the line yesterday and that cost us the win. Today there were no issues, I was off the line like a rocket and that was it. I’m absolutely chuffed to get the fastest lap of the race, to end the season in style.”

At the start, Rivett made the perfect getaway to lead into Paddock Hill bend for the first time, ahead of Jake Packun (Get On Track Developments) while race one winner James Colburn (Westbourne Motorsport) was third as another Championship contender, Aron Smith (Team Pyro) dropped back to fourth after a nervy start.

Clio Cup debutant Chris Smith (Scuderia Vittoria) caused a brief Safety Car period and once his car was recovered, Rivett was able to control the pace from the front and he continued to set fastest lap after fastest lap as he opened a gap to Packun.

Packun made a flying start to the race which enabled him to move ahead of both Colburn and Smith to follow Rivett. Bolton based Packun continued his fine end of season form to secure second – a result which matched his season opening result on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

It wasn’t straight forward for Packun as Smith hounded him all the way and looked a number of times to take second away but Packun was able to hold on until the chequered flag.

“I got a great start,” said Packun. “I couldn’t quite get in front of Paul like I had planned but remained on his bumper for the first three laps. After that, Paul showed blistering pace and pulled away. I just decided to drive my race and make no mistakes. Smith was right behind me for about 80 percent of the race and I managed to keep him at bay.”

The end results saw Smith end the season as joint Vice Champion, having secured third place in the final race. He had dropped down to fourth during the early running but he came out on top of a duel with Colburn and he came out on top at Westfield. Irishman Smith was then able to pull away from Colburn as he chased down Packun.

“I’m happy to have finished the championship in second position,” said Smith. “If someone told me at the start of the season that is where I would end up, so close to Paul going into the last race of the season then I would be absolutely over the moon.

“I didn’t get the best of starts in the race itself, which hurt me a little bit. We came back, I got past James and I tried everything to get past Jake to enable me to get on to Paul but he didn’t leave me an inch. To come away from this weekend with a double podium is a brilliant result for me.”

James Dixon headed into the season finale with an outside chance of finishing the season as Champion but having finished sixth, the Total Control Racing driver would up the season fourth overall.

As well as deciding the outright Champion, the battle for the Masters Cup still had to be decided, with both Darren Wilson (20 Ten Racing) and Mark Proctor (Total Control Racing) in the running for the Championship.

Proctor saw his hopes ended in the gravel trap after nine laps as he made a mistake at Clearways and went off – giving the honours to Wilson, who finished twenty two points ahead of the former BTCC driver.

“I didn’t think that I was going to do that well this weekend, as I knew that I was off the pace here,” said Wilson. “I don’t think I’m brave enough around Brands Hatch, but it all seemed to come to me in the final race. I saw Proctor go off with about six laps to go and I knew that it was just a case of bringing the car home to receive the Cup.

“It’s an amazing feeling to win the Masters Cup today. I came into this championship a few years ago and the Cup didn’t exist. This year things have really come together for me and we have had some good results in the middle of the year, it means a lot to me.”

Ash Miller (Scuderia Vittoria) ended a productive AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK debut weekend in thirteenth, having never competed at the Kent circuit before this weekend, while Nic Hamilton (Total Control Racing) rounded out the top ten having secured a career best ninth the day before.

Hamilton finished fourteenth overall in the Championship, which will be considered a success considering he suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

Season Finale for British GT Set to be Exciting.

Nine races down, one to go – the season finale for the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship is all set as twelve drivers from six different teams, representing three different car manufacturers all head to Silverstone for the season closing two hour race.

Currently leading the way in the GT3 battle is the CRS Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Jim/Glynn Geddie and they head into next Saturday (8 October)’s two hour finale with an eight point advantage and it would appear that their task is a relatively easy one – just in an endurance race with pit stops for the driver change, anything can happen.

The drivers in contention for the GT3 Championship Honours:

• Jim Geddie/Glynn Geddie – CRS Racing Ferrari
• Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin – MTECH Ferrari
• Mike Guasch/Matt Bell – United Autosports Audi
• Michael Lyons/Charles Bateman – Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari
• David Ashburn – Trackspeed Porsche
• Gregor Fiskin/Tim Bridgman – Trackspeed Porsche
• Hector Lester – Rosso Verde Ferrari.

With twelve drivers still in contention for the Championship title, Benjamin Franassovicci believes the showdown at Silverstone will be gripping:  “To come down to the final round with 12 drivers able to win the championship is a great way to end the year. The unpredictability of the longer-distance race format, with the fuel stops, means that only real team work will come out on top. I have no idea who to put my money on.”

What does each driver need to do to secure the Championship?

Jim/Glynn Geddie:

• Victory Ensures the Championship.
• P2 secures the crown as long as Cameron/Griffin doesn’t win.
• P3 will do – relying on Cameron/Griffin, Guasch/Bell and Lyons/Bateman not taking the flag first.

Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin:

• Victory secures the Championship.
• P2 secures the crown if Geddies are P4 or lower, Guasch/Bell, Lyons/Bateman and Ashburn aren’t victorious.
• P3 would do if Geddies finish outside the top 6, Guasch/Bell don’t secure a podium, Lyons/Bateman, Ashburn don’t win.

Mike Guasch/Matt Bell:

• Victory wins the crown as long as Geddies finish P3 or lower.
• P2 will do as long as Geddies finish outside top five, race victory not taken by Cameron/Griffin, Lyons/Bateman or Ashburn.
• P3 could do – Geddies finish seventh or lower, Ashburn doesn’t win, Cameron/Griffin, Lyons/Bateman behind.

Michael Lyons/Charles Bateman:

• Victory will win the crown if Geddies are third or lower.
• P2 good enough if Geddies outside top six, Cameron/Griffin fail to finish on the podium and Guasch/Bell behind.
• P3 will do if Geddies eighth or lower, Cameron/Griffin outside top five and Guasch/Bell, Ashburn behind.

David Ashburn:

• Victory will do if Geddies off the podium
• P2 if Geddies finish eighth or lower, Cameron/Griffin fifth or lower, Guasch/Bell, Lyons/Bateman don’t finish on the podium.

Gregor Fiskin/Tim Bridgman, Hector Lester:

• Have to win and then hope – Geddies finish ninth or lower, Cameron/Griffin fail to finish top six, Guasch/Bell fail to finish top five, Lyons/Bateman finish no higher than fourth and Ashburn not getting a podium.

In the battle for GT4 honours, there is a three way battle for the crown between season long Championship leaders Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton in the ABG Motorsport KTM X-Bow, Freddie Nordstrom/Leyton Clarke in the Lotus Sport UK Lotus Evora and Dan Denis/David McDonald in the Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50. Belshaw/Clutton arrives at Silverstone with a 26.5 point advantage.

The GT4 situation is:

Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton:

• Top Six finish ensures the title.

Freddie Nordstrom/Leyton Clarke:

• Class Victory will secure the crown if Belshaw/Clutton outside the top six.
• P2 if Belshaw/Clutton fails to score.

Dan Denis/David McDonald:

• Class Victory required with Belshaw/Clutton not scoring.

Donington Park Glory for Scuderia Vittoria.

Charles Bateman and Michael Lyons secured their second victory of the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship on board of their Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 Italia in the three hour endurance race into the darkness at Donington Park.

Having finished eighth in qualifying, the duo played their strategy right and the appearance of the Safety Car late on didn’t hamper them as they secured their first win since Oulton Park, which held the opening round of the season.

In the GT4 class, the honours went the way of British Touring Car Championship race winner James Nash and Phil Glew in their Lotus Sport UK Lotus Evora ahead of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50, piloted by Jake Rattenbury and Josh Wakefield.

The three hour endurance race got underway in wet conditions after earlier rain and this led to tricky conditions for the opening stint of the race. The early running was made by the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin, which had Jonny Adam at the wheel, while most of the teams had started with their professional driver watching on from the pit wall.

Adam and the team had lined up sixth on the grid but by the end of the opening lap, they had climbed their way into the lead and they started to pull away to the tune of three seconds a lap until the conditions started to improve and this led to the gap stabilising.

Behind Adam, Gregor Fiskin in the Trackspeed Porsche had got ahead of reigning Champion David Ashburn and the two of them ran in tandem, rounding out the podium positions. Behind, Duncan Cameron in the MTECH Ferrari led the next little gaggle of cars, which included Bateman and the United Autosports Audi of Mike Guasch.

Just before the twenty minute mark, Bateman made a move on Cameron for fourth place and this move brought Guasch into play – subsequent contact between the Ferrari and Audi saw Cameron demoted to eighth while the Audi lost two laps in the pits due to bodywork damage sustained in the contact.

As the first round of pitstops occurred, it was the Aston Martin which continued to lead but it was soon all over for Adam and Andrew Howard. The field swapped onto slick tyres as the track dried out and on his outlap; Howard spun down to fourth at Redgate and soon lost more positions as the faster ‘pro’ drivers moved ahead. Howard then spun out at the Esses and this saw the deployment of the Safety Car for the first time. Howard recovered the car to the pits but it was soon retired.

This saw the race suddenly swing in favour of the Scuderia Vittoria as they had called Lyons in for their second stop and this kept them towards the front of the field. When the Safety car was deployed for a second time due to Andrew Tate’s CRS Racing Ferrari being stuck in the gravel, Bateman pitted and handed the car back to Lyons for the final stint – he was then back in control as the three cars ahead of him all pitted.

Lyons saw his final stint last for just over an hour and he also had to save fuel, he was able to maintain an advantage of over twenty seconds – until, with sixteen minutes of the three hours remaining, the Safety Car made its third appearance due to David Back’s MTECH Ferrari being stuck in the gravel.

Lyons saw then able to hold onto the victory as he had three lapped cars between him and the chasing pack – those behind were starting to get caught up in a heated battle for second.

“The pit stops and the safety car worked out really well for us, and then at the end it was real heart-in-the-mouth stuff for me,” Lyons said. “The tyres went through a phase, they started to come back to me and then the safety car came out again, and I was thinking ‘please don’t do this’, but actually it helped save the tyres a bit and at the end I was matching the boys behind me.”

Behind Lyons at the chequered flag was Matt Griffin in the MTECH Ferrari and Tim Bridgman in the Trackspeed Porsche. The two of them had moved to the front of the pack at the mid way point of the race – for Griffin, this was in spite of the earlier problems for Cameron.

When the second Safety Car was called for, it had been Bridgman who was leading and he dived for the pits as did Griffin, who was second. They completed their second of three mandatory stops and rejoined still in first and second, with Fiskin and Cameron having taken over the driving duties.

While they were behind the Safety Car, the duo suddenly found themselves stuck behind the GT4 Aston Martin, which was being piloted by Sergio Lagana. He was suffering from gearbox gremlins and as they were under the Safety Car, they couldn’t pass the struggling Lagana.

Having already been delayed by Lagana, there was further drama for Fiskin as he exited Goddards to take the restart – Lagana suddenly dived for the pits which meant that Fiskin had to slam on the brakes and this allowed Cameron ahead.

“The guy in the Aston Martin, I now discover, had a problem: his car was stuck in third gear,” explained a rather annoyed Fiskin. “When you have a problem with your car you should come into the pits. We were both stuck behind him and we lost everything. He was struggling and he would not come in, and then when he finally decided at the last minute to duck into the pits, I had to swerve to avoid him. The Cameron/Griffin car took advantage and passed us.”

This incident meant that the Ferrari would lead the Porsche through until the final pit stops, when they were both jumped by Lyons – Griffin and Bridgman then set about chasing down leader Lyons during the closing forty minutes.

With the appearance of the Safety Car for the third time, everything was set up for a grandstand finish; Griffin however found himself behind the lapped cars of British Touring Car Championship regular Gordon Shedden and Adam Wilcox, and this denied him the opportunity to challenge Lyons for the lead – any challenge would have been immaterial though as the race stewards awarded Cameron and Griffin a time penalty for their pass on Fiskin as it was still under yellow flag conditions – this ultimately meant that Fiskin and Bridgman were promoted to second ahead of the MTECH duo of Griffin and Cameron.

“This penalty is a difficult one because for sure the rule is that under a safety car you can’t pass until the start line but the Aston decided late to go for the pits and nearly took Gregor out,” Griffin said. “Duncan had no choice: he had to go past or hit Gregor. To dart into the pits like that was dangerous and could have caused a crash, so I think the penalty is harsh. You have to look at the circumstances.”

Outside of the podium positions, Ashburn and Porsche Carrera Cup GB regular Stephen Jelley finished fourth overall after having their challenge hampered by a number of small mistakes by Ashburn.

Jim and Glynn Geddie were the final drivers to finish on the lead lap in their CRS Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. They took the flag fifth overall – having served a drive through penalty during the opening stint for a starting procedure violation.

Sixth overall was the brand new Rosso Verde Ferrari 458 Italia, piloted by BTCC Championship contender Shedden and Hector Lester. It was an encouraging debut for the car and Shedden was soon up to speed with it, matching the times of the leaders as he looked to recover the lost time from earlier in the race when Lester struggled in the wet conditions – Lester hadn’t sampled the car in the wet before the start of the race.

Seventh overall was the sole Autosports Audi of Guasch and Bell. The second car had been ruled out of contention after an accident in qualifying – and having lost two laps during the early moments of the race, Bell and Guasch were unable to make up both laps and finished a lap down in seventh.

The top ten was completed by Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox in the 360 Vision Ferrari, Piers and Ron Johnson in the Speedworks Motorsport Corvette and the Rollcentre Ginetta of Ginetta GT Supercup Championship contender Tom Sharp, Martin Short and Matt Nicoll-Jones – Sharp had been one of the early stars as he took the G55 into the top five with a number of daring overtaking moves. Burton was awarded the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend award for his efforts at the wheel of the 360 Vision Ferrari.

Lotus Sport UK dominated the GT4 category with BTCC race winner Nash and former Clio Cup Champion Glew leading from lights to flag in the Evora, despite a late stop/go penalty. Glew produced a strong opening stint as he challenged a number of the GT3 cars in the Lotus and they took the class victory a whole lap ahead of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50 of Rattenbury and Wakefield.

“It was a fairly straightforward race, really,” Glew said. “We got a good start, we had great pace in the wet and pulled a massive lead and we kept that lead pretty much all through the race. We had a scary moment towards the end with the stop-go penalty, but we had a big lead so it didn’t matter too much. James and I got on really well, we have a good team around us, and it’s been a great weekend. All thanks to the Lotus Sport UK team.”

The GT4 podium was completed by the KTM X-Bow of Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw – they had to ride their luck though as they had to serve two stop/go penalties. Dan Denis and David McDonald had been set for third in the Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50 before suffering a misfire in the final half hour, which saw them drop right off the pace.

Freddy Nordstrom and Leyton Clarke fell by the wayside in their Lotus Sport UK Evora while the Barwell-run Secure Racing Aston Martin suffered from gearbox gremlins and did make an appearance late on but some twenty nine laps down.

Running inside the top ten during the early part was the JRM-run Nissan GTR GT3 – which was entered in the invitational class for the Donington Park race – that was before it lost ten laps in the pits while a mechanical issue was resolved. Once sorted, the car returned to the track but failed to see the flag as it was left stranded on the side of the circuit when Nick Catsburg encountered a loss of drive.

Finishing eleventh overall was the GT3B Ferrari of Aaron Scott and John Dhillon, less than three seconds ahead of the GTC Chevron of Jordan Witt and Anthony Reid – Witt and Reid were another car to get a drive through penalty, this time for a refuelling infringement.

Heading into the final two hour race of the season at Silverstone on the 9^th October, 18.5 Points cover the top nine drivers while in the GT4 class, Belshaw and Clutton head to Silverstone leading by 26.5 points.

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit plays host to five way Clio Cup battle.

Five drivers head to Brands Hatch for the season finale of the 2011 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK, all harbouring aims, ambitions and dreams of securing the trophy at the end of rounds fifteen and sixteen this weekend, 1^st/2^nd October.

Heading to Kent, the current Championship leader is Aron Smith in the Team Pyro car but his lead is only slender, as local driver James Dixon for Total Control Racing is right on his tail. The other two main contenders are double Champion Paul Rivett for Lumison BlueSquare Data/Stancome Vehicle Engineering and Westbourne Motorsport’s James Colburn.

Smith made his British Touring Car Championship debut at Knockhill and he is hoping that the experiences he gained north of the border will help him secure the title.

“This is the first time that I have led the championship this year so I am feeling very confident,” says Smith. “I’m not going to get drawn into thinking too much about the title as that messes with your head, I just know that I have to stay ahead of my rivals. I think that the nature of the track works in my favour, as I like to be more aggressive when I drive. I’m confident that we can go out there and get some good results.”

Maidstone’s Dixon heads to his local circuit with other ideas. He has won four races to date in the 2011 Clio Cup, of which one was on the Indy circuit at Brands and he will look to replicate that victory out on the Grand Prix loop.

“I’m feeling very confident,” says Dixon, who works as a driver instructor at the track. “It’s my home circuit and I have always gone well at Brands, I think that we can get some good results there and obviously we need to because I want to win the championship. The pressure is on us but I think that we are looking very good.”

Rivett is hoping to use his wealth of experience to help secure him his third Clio Cup crown. He heads to Brands Hatch looking to bounce back from a nightmare weekend in Northamptonshire, when he lined up sixteenth for both races at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

“Brands Hatch is a brilliant circuit,” explains Rivett who comes from Banstead, Surrey. “With it being my home circuit I’m hoping to have that extra edge.

“It’s not very often that you get a chance to race on the Grand Prix layout and it should make for some exciting battles, especially with the title going to the wire. Hopefully we are going to put the Lumison BlueSquare Data/Stancome Vehicle Engineering car at the front.”

“I think that we are going to see a lot of tight racing,” says Colburn, who currently sits fourth in the standings after a consistent season to date. “It will be very interesting going into free practice as there is nothing to separate the top four drivers. Being fourth I have the least to lose over my rivals so I can be a bit more relaxed in my approach, but I’m going out for wins.”

After his double race winning weekend at Rockingham, High Wycombe’s Jack Goff is the final driver heading to Brands Hatch with an outside change of the title – he currently sits 26 points off Goff.

“After taking two wins at Rockingham I’m feeling very confident looking ahead to Brands,” says Goff. “The team have done a great job in preparing the car and I can’t wait to get back out there again. I think that if we manage to qualify well like at Rockingham then two more victories are definitely on the cards.”

It isn’t just the outright Championship which will be decided at Brands Hatch – 20 Ten Racing’s Darren Wilson heads to Kent leading the Masters Cup title charge by seventeen points from former BTCC racer Mark Proctor.

Brands Hatch sees the grid bolstered with another three drivers. Scuderia Vittoria enter two cars for Ash Miller and Chris Smith and they will be looking to better the impressive showing of debutant Ant Whorton-Eales set at Rockingham last time out.

Handy Motorsport also make their official debut with Simon Belcher at the wheel. They raced at Silverstone in the ‘Cross Channel Challenge’, which supported the annual World Series by Renault event back in August.

The supporters will also have the opportunity to win at Brands Hatch. Title Sponsor AirAsia are offering a pair of return tickets to Kuala Lumpur for one lucky fan, who spots the AirAsia destination on the windscreen strip of one of the cars – then emails it to airasiaclio@sro.co.uk for a chance of being victorious.

The final weekend of the season for the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK gets underway on Saturday, October 1 with qualifying at 11.15 before race one at 16.25. The final race of the season will be televised on ITV4, ITV4 HD and itv.com and will start at 13.25 on Sunday, 2 October.

Rockingham Ready for British GT Season Resumption.

British GT Race Start at Spa last time out - the series heads to Rockingham this weekend.

September is all set for an adrenalin-fuelled kick start thanks to the resumption of the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship, following the song summer break since the last round, at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

The top Sportscar drivers in the UK go head to head in a pair of one hour races at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire, driving supercars from Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Audi and Ginetta. A field in excess of twenty two cars is expected, with sixteen cars entered in the GT3 Category.

Heading to Rockingham, the Championship battle couldn’t be any closer or exciting. Currently, the points are being led by Mike Guasch and Matt Bell in their Audi R8 GT3, run by United Autosports, but they only have a two point advantage over father and son pairing, Jim/Glynn Geddie in their CRS Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. The Scottish pairing has been a regular visitor to the podium in 2011.

Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron in their MTech Racing Ferrari 458 are coming up the standings fast and they secured the victory out at Spa last time out. They secured a strong seventh place finish out at the Slovakia Ring recently in the FIA GT3 European Championship. That was despite some technical issues.

“It was a tough weekend in Slovakia,” said Griffin, “and I hope we can put all that behind us for Rockingham. We need a couple of good, solid finishes there to keep the ball rolling having turned our season around a bit. But it won’t be easy because British GT is so competitive and because Rockingham has historically suited the Porsches more than it has the Ferraris.”

Rockingham marks the last double header of the season for the British GT field. Their next outing, at Donington Park is a three hour endurance style race while the season finale at Silverstone is a two hour race. Benjamin Franassovicci believes that it will be a fascinating season finale:  “The three circuits coming up all offer their own unique challenges, as will the format of the races at each. The championship is wide open and will be, I think, all the way to the final round. We are expecting to see 27-plus cars on the grid at Donington, which is even more exciting.”

Also lining up in the GP3 Category will be reining Champion David Ashburn in his Trackspeed Porsche. He has secured two victories this season while the teams’ second 997 will be driven by Gregor Fiskin and Tim Bridgman, who secured victory at Brands Hatch.

CRS Racing will also have their second Ferrari 458 out, with Andrew Tate and Alex Mortimer. Both the Geddie’s car and the Tate/Mortimer car will have a striking new livery for Rockingham.

2009 Champions, David/Godfrey Jones will be out in their Team Preci-Spark Mercedes AMG SLS, fresh from coming seventh overall out at Spa during the Spa 24 Hours, while Oulton Park victors, Michael Lyons and Charles Bateman will be looking to secure yet more success for the young Scuderia Vittoria outfit.

Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam will be driving the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin while Corvette is also represented by Piers and Ron Johnson, who are piloting the Speedworks Motorsport car. The duo collected a season’s best sixth last time out.

Ginetta will be represented by three G55’s, at the hands of Century Motorsport’s Julien Draper and Freddie Hetherington.

In the GT4 class, the battle for the title is just as fearsome. Currently leading the way is the ABG Motorsport duo of Peter Belshaw and Marcus Clutton, in their KTM X-Bow. They have secured GT4 honours three times already this season.

Spa-Francorchamps saw maiden class wins for Dan Denis and David McDonald in the Scuderia Vittoria run Ginetta G50 and the Lotus Sport UK run Lotus Evora for Ollie Jackson and Phil Glew. Jake Rattenbury and Josh Wakefield have also secured a class victory in the Century Motorsport G50, during the second Oulton Park race. After their maiden GT4 Podium finish at Spa, Peter Erceg and Chris Holmes will be hoping to repeat the feat in their Secure Racing Aston Martin.

In GT3B, the class will be contested by MTech Ferrari drivers John Dhillon and Aaron Scott while the GTC Category will see Jordan Witt and Anthony Reid in their Chevron GR8.

The British GT Championship is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.

British GT Rockingham Schedule:

Saturday, 3 September:

09.00 – 10.00: Free Practice 1
11.45 – 12.45: Free Practice 2
16.20 – 16.55: Qualifying

Sunday, 4 September:

10.00: Warm Up
12.50: Round Seven (60 Minutes)
16.25: Round Eight (60 Minutes)

Picture Credit: British GT Media

P1 the Wright Place to be at Silverstone.

Luke Wright Crosses the Line First to Secure the Cross Channel Clio Cup Honours.

Silverstone saw Luke Wright and the Scuderia Vittoria team in a class of their own in front of over 120,000 spectators as they dominated proceedings in the Renault Clio Cup Channel Challenge, as they raced to a brace of victories and Pole Positions.

Heading into the non-Championship event, Wright currently sits twelfth in the Championship. Going up against drivers from the Dutch Clio Cup Championship, he not only won the Channel Challenge – which was open to non-Dutch Championship drivers – the Dorset based driver secured the outright race wins and Pole Positions.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” explained 19 year-old Wright from Shaftesbury, Dorset.

“We were very quick in testing on Friday and from that point I knew that we could go quicker throughout the weekend. To get two wins at the World Series by Renault event is just incredible and I’m feeling very confident looking ahead to Rockingham.”

In a combined qualifying session on Friday, Wright secured Pole Position for both the weekend’s races, he then took the Chequered flag first in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s encounters – this meant he also received £500 per race as the ELF Graduate Cup winner.

Joining Wright in the non-Championship event were Jeff Smith with Team Pyro and a series debutant, Simon Belcher with new team Handy Motorsport with Karcher.

For Smith, stepping back into the Clio Cup from his BTCC drive for Silverstone, the weekend saw him win the ELF Masters Cup in both races as well as securing an outright podium finish in the second race, having come fourth during the opening encounter. He also pocketed £500 per class victory.

“It was fantastic to see a driver from the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK perform so well against a field of talented Dutch competitors,” said SRO UK General Manager, Lisa Crampton. “We owe thanks to ELF, Michelin and Protyre for supporting us in the Renault Clio Cup Channel Challenge at what has been a fantastic event showcasing Renault racing talent in a fabulous weekend of activities.”

Rounds thirteen and fourteen of the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK take place in four weeks time, over the 17/18 September at Rockingham, Corby.

Picture Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Four Way Clio Cup Championship Battle Heads to Snetterton.

Matt Allison leads the field at Croft last time out.

The new Snetterton 300 circuit is the venue for rounds eleven and twelve of the 2011 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup. The heavily revised circuit, which now stands at 4,812km makes it Clio Cup debut this weekend, 6/7 August.

Snetterton, near Thetford in Norfolk now presents a high speed challenge with the addition of a mile long new infield section will present the fans two exciting and action packed races as the series resumes after a seven week break.

Heading into rounds eleven and twelve, four drivers have their eyes firmly set on the Championship honours and with seventeen points covering the top four, the second half of the season promises to be as exciting as the opening ten races.

Leading the way is double Clio Cup Champion Paul Rivett (Lumison Blue Square Data/Colin Stancombe Engineering), he secured the lead of the Championship last time out at Croft after overhauling young, up and coming rival James Dixon (Total Control Racing).

Rivett, the 2002 and 2004 Champion won the mid season holiday in Kuala Lumpur after his Croft exploits, while Dixon, who had arrived in North Yorkshire level on points with Rivett had a mare of a weekend and he heads to Snetterton lying third, although just seven points shy of Rivett.

“I had a bit of a bad run at Croft,” says Total Control Racing driver, Dixon, “so looking ahead to the Snetterton I am aiming to go out there and claim two pole positions and two race wins. I was very quick there last year, I have been working very hard on my fitness in the summer break and I certainly feel in great condition as the championship battle resumes.”

Sitting between Rivett and Dixon is Aron Smith (Team Pyro) while lying fourth overall is James Coulburn (Westbourne Motorsport), just seventeen points off the lead of the Championship.

“I was quickest in testing at Snetterton earlier in the year so I’m hoping to take that into the race weekend as I look for my first win,” said Colburn.
“The new track layout is a challenge for the Clio as it is quite tight in some areas, but I am sure that the changes will make for some great racing.”

Local interest is high with former British Touring Car Championship driver Matt Allison (Scuderia Vittoria) coming to Snetterton on the back of a double race winning weekend at Croft, as well a double Pole Position.

“I’m feeling very confident coming to my home race,” said Allison who lives in Drayton, Norwich. “The new track is very technical and should favour experience. It is a very important weekend for me as most of my sponsors are local to me so I hope to get some strong results. Croft was a really positive weekend for us so I’m hoping for similar on local ground.”

Clio Cup supporters also have the opportunity to win a trip to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur thanks to title sponsor AirAsia. One driver over the weekend will be carrying the name of an AirAsia flight location on their windscreen visor. Email this destination to airasiaclio@sro.co.uk to be entered into the draw to win two return flights from London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur.

Qualifying ahead of round eleven is due to get underway at 11:40 on Saturday, 6 August while the first race will start at 17.05 while the second race of the weekend takes place at 11:15 Sunday, 7 August.

Picture Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography