ELF/BTE Lawline Renault Clio Cup championship front-runner Paul Rivett (Banstead, Surrey) headed the timesheets at Snetterton in Norfolk yesterday during a specially arranged summer test in which 10 cars took part.

With the teams and drivers looking forward to rounds 11 and 12 of the season at Croft next weekend (24th/25th July), the Snetterton outing offered a good opportunity for them to return to action following the seven-week break since the last race meeting at Thruxton in May.

Rivett’s best lap of 1m 17.789 seconds (90.33mph) saw him go 0.259 seconds faster than Team Griffin Racing’s Matt Allison (Reepham, Norwich) with privateer runner Mark Davies (Mirfield, West Yorkshire) less than three 100ths further back in third place.

Team Gatecrasher’s Steven Hunter (Coal Aston, Dronfield) was happy with his best lap of 1m 18.530 seconds, which placed him fourth overall ahead of Mardi Gras Motorsport’s Fulvio Mussi (Colchester, Essex) in fifth position with Boulevard’s Martin Johnson (Alford, Lincolnshire) and Jim Edwards Jnr (Maidenhead, Berkshire) sixth and seventh respectively.

Stephen Colbert, one of three non-registered drivers to take part in the test, was eighth fastest for Aurok Motorsport ahead of SpeedEquipe’s Richard Williams (Groombridge, East Sussex) in ninth and Phil Grinsell who was 10th overall for Team Gatecrasher.

Meanwhile, car racing novice Wayne Barrow, who utilised Martin Johnson’s car during the last of the three sessions, posted a best lap of 1m 27.004 seconds.

Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2004 ELF/BTE Lawline Renault Clio Cup take place at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Saturday, 24th July, and Sunday, 25th July.

www.renaultsport.co.uk