The BTCC debutant who has waited 20 years for his chance

Paul Rivett has waited a long time to finally make his British Touring Car Championship debut. After all, he has been a fixture of the BTCC's support bill for over 20 years - Artem Markelov's never-ending seven-season spell in GP2/Formula 2 pales into insignificance in comparison - and was a race winner in that very first full campaign on the TOCA package back in 1999. But Rivett is now finally due to make his BTCC debut at Snetterton this weekend in a Trade Price Cars Racing Audi S3.

Having started over 200 Renault UK Clio Cup races and won an unprecedented four titles, there can be no doubting Rivett's pedigree. And now, at the age of 42, he is certainly well-qualified to finally achieve his dream of stepping up to the top tier.

"It's what I've always strived to do - it's the pinnacle of British motorsport and it's where I've always wanted to be," says Rivett. "It's only taken me 21 years of racing in the support series! I better live up to that [level of experience]!

"I thought this wasn't going to happen, but I never gave up. As the years went on, it seemed more out of reach. I was watching it on TV and I was thinking that I'm still young enough, fit enough and sharp enough to make an impact if I get a drive in it so it was really important to get that drive sooner rather than later."

And now he has achieved that goal - and sooner than he intended. Rivett had began talking to teams about a possible deal for next year or even 2022, when suddenly the Audi opportunity cropped up when James Gornall ran out of budget. "I feel sorry for James not being able to finish the season off," Rivett adds. "But one person's misfortune is another person's fortune."

He is certainly going to grab that opportunity with both hands now it has finally arisen. Despite winning the Clio Cup crown - the unofficial BTCC feeder series - four times, he was never quite able to make that next step up. Since he won his first Clio title in 2002, eight of the subsequent 14 champions have secured a BTCC graduation for the following season - including race winners Ash Sutton, Josh Cook, Tom Onslow-Cole and Jack Goff - while another two did a few years later. But Rivett was unable to make that same progression, despite coming close on several occasions.

"There were a few times when I could've got in a car but what I didn't want to do was leave the Clio Cup and get into a car that wasn't competitive enough," he says. "I would've had to blow a year's budget in Clios for a couple of rounds in touring cars and then may not have done so well."

As Rivett enjoyed the Clio Cup competition, he did not want to jeopardise the rest of his career just for a few BTCC races, potentially at the back of the grid. However, that is less of a concern to Rivett now. After winning his fourth Clio crown in 2018, he took a step back to club-level competition, competing in the British Truck Racing Championship and Fun Cup. If his BTCC bid does not work out, he can instead fall back on the less expensive truck contest.

But, despite his most recent racing experience coming in very different machinery to a Next Generation Touring Car Audi, Rivett is confident in his own abilities and wants to use the final two events of this season as a platform to build upon for 2021. As a new driver, he will have to carry a 45kg weight penalty at Snetterton this weekend, which helps to take the pressure off the 'rookie'.

"I first tested a proper saloon car, it was a Vauxhall Vectra in 1998, and as soon as I saw that and drove that I knew I wanted to go touring car racing" Paul Rivett

"I've got to carry extra weight to start with in practice, qualifying and the first race so there's no expectations to start with," he says. "For Brands Hatch, I shed the weight and it's my home circuit.

"I've not got any expectations for this - the best I can do is to be as prepared as I possibly can be and do my best job. I hope that momentum can continue and lead into next year. If it doesn't, at least I can say I've now had that chance to race."

Rivett had a first test in the Audi last week to get up to speed with the machine - in a mixture of wet and dry conditions - and completed the required 300 kilometres of running for BTCC 'substitute' drivers.

"It's a very good championship regulation of having to do that mileage in the car beforehand," acknowledges Rivett, who found the test useful having most recently raced the Volkswagen Beetle-inspired Fun Cup car. "It was really good, I really enjoyed it and it's an amazing piece of kit to drive. We had 300km, so did pretty much a full day of driving, and it all went well."

Despite Rivett's long-term goal being to land a BTCC seat, like many drivers, he started out in single-seaters. After a successful karting career, during which he battled with Jenson Button for the British Cadet crown, he contested a one-off Formula Vauxhall Junior race in 1994 before later attending the Jim Russell Racing School. But then a test in a Vauxhall Vectra changed everything.

"When I first started karting, I dreamed of Formula 1," Rivett recalls. "But then I first tested a proper saloon car, it was a Vauxhall Vectra in 1998, and as soon as I saw that and drove that I knew I wanted to go touring car racing."

Success soon followed. He secured a drive in the BTCC-supporting Fiesta championship for 1999, and was a race winner, before then heading stateside to race stock cars for a year. He was back to the UK in 2001 and his long association with the Clio Cup began, winning the title in 2002, 2004, 2011 and then two years ago. And he has even triumphed on water, adding a powerboat title to his trophy cabinet in the jet ski class in 2012!

Having worked his way through the ranks, Rivett is now delighted by the positive reaction to his BTCC graduation. "I've had so many great comments, like the other day when I was doing Fun Cup testing, and it's just fantastic," he says. "I really can't thank the people around me enough - Tachosys, Wayne Eason and WDE, my wife, my Dad and my friends."

Twenty-one years ago, when he first regularly competed on the BTCC support bill, Laurent Aiello and David Leslie in Nissan Primeras and Rickard Rydell in a Volvo S40 were the drivers to beat. Senna Proctor, the youngest driver on this year's grid, was not even one year old. And Matt Neal was about to take the first of his 63 victories. A lot has happened since then and, for Rivett, the long wait for a BTCC debut is now almost over.