Clive Richards maintained his hopes of title victory in the Autosport Caterham Eurocup with a brace of strong results at Dijon in France.

Richards, from Itchingfield near Horsham, finished second to Southamptons Jon Barnes in the first of the days events and then claimed third spot next time out.

Barnes also won race two and he now enjoys a ten-point championship lead.

Only Barnes and Richards, a multiple Caterham racing champion, can now win the championship, which will be settled at the Brands Hatch Caterham Festival on October 9 and 10.

In a weekend which provided many notable performances, Caterham racing history was made by Rachel Green, who became the first woman to take pole position in qualifying at the wheel of an R400.

The 33-year-old from Essex dented her male rivals pride with a super lap set early in the session and only Richards, who took second on the grid, managed to get anywhere close to her time.

Barnes, who started sixth, soon got among the pack when the race got going and seemed to have victory in the bag by mid-distance but Oliver Bull and Richards stayed with him.

On the final lap Richards, 42, edged past Barnes into first place only to come across back-markers at the Courbe de Pouas.

That setback saw him lose the lead and drop back to finish second.

Richards said: Ive never been so disappointed to finish second in my life. I thought I had timed it all just right.

Barnes and Richards were at it hammer and tongs again in race two, but this time were joined in battle for the lead by three other cars.

However, Richards car began to feel the strain and a jubilant Barnes got to the flag half a second ahead of Paillard, who scored his best-ever finish in an R400 on his home circuit. Richards was a tenth further back.

Ahead of the final round, Richards holds a 17-point lead over third-placed Simon Lambert from Welwyn.

Craig Rainer picked off the field to claim a highly creditable fourth place in the latest round of the Ford Saloon Car Championship at Oulton Park.

The Wealden Racing team were only making their third appearance of the season in their newly built MKII Escort.

Having had a couple of good runs in the first two outings for the car and with a few more tweaks having been made, hopes were high for multiple champion Rainer, from Crawley Down.

However, the rain did not suit the team and Rainer had to settle for 15th on the gird out of 28 cars, the majority of which were more adept to the conditions with four-wheel and front-wheel drive than the Wealden Racing rear-wheel drive MK II.

The weather changed dramatically in the afternoon and the sun came ou.

Rainer was initially stuck stuck behind the Class D Sapphire of Craig Owen in 12th place and could not get past until the midway point.

When he did, the Sussex driver made short work of the next seven cars to claw his way up to fourth by the chequered flag.

Rainer said: The car is getting better and better each time out.

It is still in its development stage but we are gaining ground on the big Class A cars all the time. The new brakes made a big difference in the last half of the race but we still have some work to do on the set-up.

The final race of the Season is at Snetterton on October 23 and 24.