NAPA REBOUNDS FROM DISASTROUS START FOR THRUXTON SUCCESS

08 Jul 2024

NAPA Racing UK bounced back from a disastrous start to the third meeting of the British Truck Racing Championship at Thruxton to secure a further two victories in Division 2 – whilst also going close to a second overall victory of the campaign.

Having been forced to sit out the previous event at Pembrey with a broken ankle, leading to his seat being taken by BTCC rear Sam Osborne for the weekend, Paul Rivett was passed fit to return to action at the wheel of the MAN TGX with his focus firmly on making up lost ground in the title race.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

Showing no ill-effect of his time off track, Paul was on the pace in free practice as he was able to mix it with the Division 1 machines although it would prove to be a truncated session after a heavy accident involving the machine of Stuart Oliver that brought out the red flags.

Delays to the programmes as barrier repairs were carried out let to the cancellation of qualifying, with the grid instead forming up on championship order – leaving Paul to start the opening race from third in the Division 2 class.

RACES 1 – 5

A strong start to the race saw Paul vault up into the Division 2 lead but his hopes of what would have been a sixth straight class win went up in smoke – quite literally – with a dramatic turbo failure on the second lap forcing him to retire to the pits.

The team worked hard to replace the new turbo with a replacement for race two but it was clear that all was not well with the truck, with an issue with one of the turbo boost hoses leaving Paul well off the pace of his rivals as he ended up having to settle for second place.

With the truck again undergoing repairs ahead of race three on Sunday morning, Paul was optimistic of an upturn in fortunes on a damp but drying circuit and he took his spot in third amongst the Division 2 trucks and eleventh overall.

Moving up to second at the start, Paul was able to battle ahead of of John Powell into the Division 2 lead on the sixth lap and then set about trying to overhaul Division 1 racer Tom O’Rourke for sixth overall.

Making a move around the outside into Noble, Paul found himself forced wide across the grass which allowed Powell to nip back ahead, leaving the NAPA Racing UK man to once again settle for second in class.

Race four would provide Paul with a huge challenge as he lined up second in class but back in ninth overall, with rival Powell sitting on the front row.

Paul was lucky to avoid an incident at the start that saw the race red-flagged and was soon making up places to sit seventh overall by the end of the third lap. Although he lost a spot to Division 1 racer David Smith on lap four, Paul also managed to clear class rival Powell to grab the Division 2 lead to make it six wins for the season from nine starts.

The final race of the weekend saw Paul lining up second on the overall grid in treacherous wet conditions similar to those in which he has taken his overall win at Brands Hatch, and he immediately vaulted into the lead off the line.

With the conditions removing the performance gap to the Division 1 machinery, Paul was able to build a lead of nearly four seconds at the front through the early laps but was then reeled in by multiple British champion Ryan Smith – who moved ahead on the penultimate lap.

Whilst that prevented Paul from scoring another overall win, he was able to take the flag in second spot for a dominant Division 2 victory having set a fastest lap a second quicker than anyone else on track with the exception of Smith.