Aiello makes it three

three wins in a row, and be the first driver to take the double at a singlemeeting.

Pole man Rickard Rydell made yet another good start to once again lead the
two Nissans into Allard. This time round David Leslie was in no mood to let
Rydell escape and was urging Nissan team mate Aiello to find a way past the
Volvo. As the pack approached the chicane for the sixth time Leslie made
his move around the outside of both Aiello and Rydell, but the Nissan
couldn't hold the line and Leslie was forced to cut across the exit
straight into the path of a much faster moving Ford of Anthony Reid. With
no where to go Reid slammed into the back of Leslie's Nissan rotating the
Primera into the pit wall.

This left Aiello to continue the challenge on Rydell which he did right up
until the pitstops. Vincent Radermecker was also on the move virtually
climbing over the back of Alain Menu's Ford for third and dragging the rear
trim off in the process.

Radermecker was then the first of the leaders to make his stop (3rd) and in
an unusual decision by Volvo all four tyres were changed to the tune of 19
seconds. Rydell pitted next to hand Aiello the lead and he also changed all
four wheels.

Vincent Radermecker - "we had problems with the rear tyres during the
sprint race and were worried they might lose traction".

After the pitstops Aiello found himself well out in front followed by
Rydell, Jason Plato (Renault), Radermecker and Matt Neal (Nissan). By lap
twenty everyone was bunching up behind Rydell into a six car train whilst
Aiello continued his clear run out front.

Two laps later and Radermecker was past Plato and into a position to defend
team mate Rydell from the attentions of Plato. This is the way that it
stayed right up until the end with Rydell in second chased by Radermecker
and a hard pressing Plato.

There was no such trouble however for Aiello who cruised to his second
victory of the day and one step closer to relieving TOCA Boss Alan Gow of
another £250,000 cheque, this time for winning four in a row.

Lee Brookes (Honda) found himself the happy winner of the Michelin Cup for
Independents after series leader Matt Neal succumbed to a front puncture on
lap 23. Alain Menu eventually came home a secure sixth one place behind
Hondas Peter Kox who did well considering he started from the back of the
grid.

When asked about how motivating the potential cheque for £250,000 would be
Laurent replied, "I would be lying if I said that it wasn't a motivation,
but I am very confident in the car now and was very pleased to win again".

Rickard Rydell - "David (Leslie) was very optimistic to try to get past
entering the chicane, I knew he was going to try and just needed to make
sure I didn't brake too early."

Rydell also jokingly pointed out to Aiello that he didn't know how much
Alan Gow was going to pay himself and Radermecker to stop Aiello lifting
said £250,000. With the pace and closeness of action here at Thruxton
Brands Hatch should prove to be pretty frantic in two weeks time.

Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps Notes

-- -- ---- ------------------------------------------------ ----- -------

1 3 23 Laurent Aiello (F) Nissan Primera GT 32

2 1 1 Rickard Rydell (S) Volvo S40 32 +5.76

3 7 11 Vincent Radermecker (B) Volvo S40 32 +6.17

4 4 5 Jason Plato (GB) Renault Laguna 32 +7.12

5 12 33 Peter Kox (NL) Honda Accord 32 +15.11

6 5 4 Alain Menu (CH) Ford Mondeo 32 +21.35

7 11 37 Jean-Christophe BoullionRenault Laguna 32 +23.72

8 8 3 James Thompson (GB) Honda Accord 32 +32.68

9 14 8 John Cleland (GB) Vauxhall Vectra 32 +39.88

10 13 99 Lee Brookes (GB)* Honda Accord 32 +41.10

11 10 7 Yvan Muller (F) Vauxhall Vectra 32 +63.13

12 17 15 Mark Blair (GB)* Vauxhall Vectra 31 1 lap

13 15 22 Paula Cook (GB)* Honda Accord LS 31 1 lap

14 16 17 Russell Spence (GB)* Renault Laguna 31 1 lap

15 6 77 Matt Neal (GB)* Nissan Primera GT 23 NR

16 9 2 Anthony Reid (GB) Ford Mondeo 7 NR

17 2 6 David Leslie (GB) Nissan Primera GT 6 NR

Weather Conditions: Sunny/Dry

Fastest Lap: car 11 Vincent Radermecker (Volvo) 1:17.488 109.45mph

Track Length: 2.3560 Miles