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Clivio
Piccione, Racing in the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula Three Championship,
Round 23/24,Brands Hatch, Kent,
October 2nd/3rd 2004
Round 23
 Monaco's
Clivio Piccione arrived at the penultimate round of the British
Formula Three Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend needing
a good result if he was to wrest third place in the series from
James Rossiter (Fortec Motorsport). It was mathematically possible,
though it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Regardless
of the difficulty, Clivio was set to give it his best shot, and
when practice started on the short Kent circuit he was quickly on
the pace in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara F304. However, things
did not go according to plan, largely because some of the other
drivers seemed to be having trouble keeping their wheels on the
Tarmac and out of the gravel. In addition, the weather looked as
if it was planning on playing a part in events too.
Sure
enough, just after Clivio went out to join in the session, a car
went off at Clearways. As Clivio saw it: "I went out and
I was looking at the weather and it was looking like it was going
to rain. But we were hoping that the track was going to be a bit
quicker in the middle of the session, and so that's why we waited
to go out. Someone crashed, but there were no red flags, so I thought
OK, that's good and so I kept going. Next lap another one crashed
in the same place, and I thought, that's it." He was right.
The session was halted while the two wrecked cars could be moved
to a place of safety, and while all that was being done, it started
to rain, which was the last thing Clivio needed at this point in
the session. By the time the mess was cleared away, the rain had
at least stopped, but it would clearly be a while before the track
was properly dry again, and anyway, his tyres were no longer at
their best. "Afterwards, the best of the tyres was gone
because I did three laps before when I knew the time was going to
be there, but then I was blocked on what should have been my fastest
lap. So basically the first half of it was a bit of a mess, and
the second half we had to wait, so we couldn't run properly until
the end of the session, but then the tyres were not at their best."
He ended the session in a more than respectable third, but unfortunately
Rossiter was ahead of him in 2nd. He consoled himself with the thought
that the qualifying session for Round 24, to be held later in the
day, had to be better.
The
race itself was something of a mixed bag too. Once again the weather
gods decided to intervene, giving the track a thorough soaking before
the race started, and throwing most people into a quandary as they
considered their tyre choices. It was hard to know what to do for
the best, and the fiasco that had been Silverstone was in the forefront
of everyone's minds, when most people opted for wet weather tyres
and got it badly wrong. This time most people opted for slicks,
with a handful of exceptions. Clivio was among the slick shod runners,
as were the two men ahead of him on the grid, Rossiter and the Champion-elect
Nelson A Piquet (Piquet Sports). All three of them got a good start,
Rossiter getting the jump on Piquet, who declined to fight him while
the title was undecided. Clivio set off in pursuit of the Brazilian,
and was making good progress when he got off the dry line at Graham
Hill Bend, sliding wide. The car now out of his control because
the slicks were providing no grip on the slippery surface, he slid
onto the grass. It wasn't the end of the story though. Although
it wasn't easy, Clivio managed to scrabble his way back onto the
track ("Getting back off that grass seemed to take forever!")
and back into the race, though of course he was at the back of the
pack now. While the drivers who had opted for wet weather tyres
were shown to have made the right decision, a storming comeback
drive from Clivio followed, in which he set the fastest lap time
of anyone on slicks, his pace almost matching that of Rob Austin
(Menu Motorsport), who set the fastest lap of all on his treaded
tyres. It was a great drive from Clivio, though unfortunately he
was ultimately rewardless, finishing just outside the points when
the chequered flag finally fell.
Round
24
For the final round of the 2004 British Formula Three Championship,
Clivio Piccione, racing for Carlin Motorsport, was hopeful of a
good result. You always want to go out on a high note, and one more
win would be a good way of finishing the season. First though, the
Monegasque youngster had to survive qualifying. Given what had happened
in the morning session (for round 23) that could prove tricky. The
whole process was made even more nerve-wracking for his family and
friends, when he decided to opt for a somewhat radical strategy,
and stayed in the pits for a large part of the first half of the
session. "Why did I stay in the pits for so long? Well,
first of all it was because of the track conditions. There was a
lot of dust (left behind after a massive off in the GT practice
session that had gone before) and I just wanted to go straight out
on new tyres. I didn't want to go out on old tyres, because of what
happened in the first session. Also I wanted to start my session
towards the end of qualifying because I knew the track was going
to get quicker, so I just wanted to do a few laps once it was at
its best." It was a risky plan, but it worked, netting
Clivio the final pole position of the season, and afterwards he
was quietly pleased with his performance. "I didn't do an
awesome lap but I was good at the right time. At the end the wind
picked up a lot and the car wasn't so happy then." Now
all he had to try and do was stay ahead of newly-crowned champion
Nelson Piquet (Piquet Sports). The plan was very simple really.
"I'm going to try and get in front of him at the first corner,
and keep him there!"
The
simple plan looked like it was going to work too. At the start of
the race, Clivio made a good start, and was clear of Piquet as they
screamed into Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. He even started
to break away a little, but then Piquet seemed to wake up. The Brazilian
was closing the gap inexorably, and it now became a matter of having
to try and hold him off. With the track again unpleasantly slippery
in places, that was easier said than done. Several laps into the
race, it all went wrong. "I made a bad exit at Graham Hill
Bend and Piquet ran into me, puncturing one of my rear tyres. I
lost control because of it and went straight across the grass. After
that there was nothing to do but come into the pits to get a new
tyre, and when I did that I hit the pit wall. I just couldn't control
it; I hit the brakes and the car was sliding and it went straight
on into the wall." Mere seconds later the team had replaced
the damaged rubber and Clivio was back out on the track, but it
was too late really. He was now a lap down, and couldn't hope to
catch the leaders from that far back. Really, all he could do was
reflect on the fact that he'd been robbed of a win through no fault
of his own, as he came home outside the points for the second time
that day. It was doubly frustrating because really Piquet didn't
need the win, he was already Champion; and the car had been running
well before it was so rudely attacked! "Before that my car
was going alright, I had a good lead. Piquet was quick, he was catching
me through the corners, because I had quite a bit of oversteer there,
but everywhere else it was fine. After that my front wing was bent,
and there wasn't much I could do."
Clivio
ends the season with 17 points finishes from 24 races, including
6 podium finishes, of which two were race wins. It's an enviable
record
By:
Lynne Waite and Stella-Maria Thomas
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