Author: Nick Carter

NEWS RELEASE 2 MAY 2015

Just as he did at Oulton Park last month, David Sutton showed his Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup rivals a clean pair of wheels in qualifying today at Rockingham. The SlideSports Scirocco driver bagged pole position for this afternoon’s fourth round of the championship and will start from top spot also for Sunday afternoon’s live-televised round six.

Rotherham racer Sutton’s best lap was more than half a second quicker than his closest rival, KPM’s Lucas Orrock, could achieve and David’s second-best time was 0.475s ahead of Joe Fulbrook’s. Joe’s Safe & Sound Golf GTI will share the front row with Sutton’s Scirocco for the Rockingham finale.

Orrock was pleased with his progress since Oulton Park: “The engine electronics have been remapped to rule out any problems in that area and I have to say it felt good. However, we are nowhere near David’s pace and if he can keep that up in the races then we will struggle…”

Fulbrook’s improvements centred on works to his Golf’s gearbox: “The gearchange is 100 per cent better than it was at Oulton, so it’s a positive step,” said Joe. Fulbrook’s best time in qualifying was third-fastest overall, just ahead of Oulton reverse-grid winner Joe McMillan, with the Sciroccos of Jack Walker-Tully and Aaron Mason completing the top six.

Michael Epps was the leading Team HARD runner in seventh after Howard Fuller found his Golf stuck in fifth gear; Howard persevered to end the session 14th despite the handicap. Paul Ivens, making his VW Cup debut as a guest driver with Maximum Motorsport, was an excellent ninth overall, with Darrelle Wilson giving his self-built TDI-engined Scirocco an encouraging debut to emerge 12th overall.

Round four of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup follows at 1705, with Round five and six scheduled for Sunday. Tomorrow’s third and final race will be screened live on Motors TV across Europe.

Leading qualifying times Rockingham 2 May 2015
1 David SUTTON SlideSports Scirocco 1:36.083
2 Lucas ORROCK KPM Scirocco 1:36.636
3 Joe FULBROOK Safe & Sound Golf 1:36.699
4 Joe McMILLAN Cobra Engineering Scirocco1:36.703
5 Jack WALKER-TULLY Cooke & Mason Scirocco 1:36.854
6 Aaron MASON AWM Scirocco 1:36.993
7 Michael EPPS Team HARD Golf 1:37.031
8 Phil HOUSE PH Motorsport Scirocco 1:37.370
9 Paul IVENS Maximum Motorsport Scirocco 1:37.627
10 Simon RUDD Team HARD Golf 1:37.782 etc

Full times

NEWS RELEASE 27 APRIL 2015

David Sutton, who blitzed his way to the top of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup standings with two wins and a second-place finish at Oulton Park, will after all be able to defend his championship lead this weekend (2/3 May) at Rockingham. Sutton’s SlideSports team-mate from last season, David Fairbrother, has stepped in with sponsorship from his A.D.D. Express distribution firm to secure the Rotherham racer’s place on the grid.

Sutton had feared that the Oulton opening rounds would be his last: “We didn’t think that we’d make it to Rockingham but David has been kind enough to help me out and with the backing of A.D.D. Express we should be OK for the next two meetings; I have some others interested in sponsoring us too, and they are coming to Rockingham to have a look and hopefully to see me stage a repeat of what happened at Oulton, although I know that will be hard…”

Despite a minimum of pre-season testing, Sutton’s pace for the new three-races-a-weekend VW Cup format was impressive at Oulton. Adds David: “We always knew we had good pace around there, and the few bits that SlideSports changed on the Scirocco over the winter made a difference. There was something in me as well: because I thought it might be my last race I think it brought something else out in me…”

Sutton’s closest championship challenger currently is Team HARD Golf GTI man Howard Fuller, who also achieved a hat-trick of podium finishes at Oulton Park. Third overall on points is 2013 Champion Aaron Mason, who has won at Rockingham for three years in succession and who will be hoping that the tyre-wear issues which beset him in Cheshire can be eradicated.

The 30-car field of Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup challengers will face a busy time at Rockingham with qualifying and a race on Saturday followed by two further 20-minute sprint races on Sunday in support of the headlining British GT Championship event. The Sunday afternoon finale will be screened live across Europe on Motors TV.

Rockingham is almost a home race for Oulton Park’s other race winner, Wisbech-based Joe McMillan, and for Sawston’s Lucas Orrock. McMillan’s Cobra Engineering Scirocco held Sutton at bay for the duration of the reverse-grid race and with a year’s experience of the championship under his belt, Joe looks set to be a force in the future. Orrock, meanwhile, will be keen to improve on the single podium finish he achieved last time for Silverstone-based KPM in the Vindis/Milltek Sport Scirocco.

The best that reigning triple champion Joe Fulbrook could salvage from Oulton was a fifth, but Joe was a winner at Rockingham in 2013 with his Golf GTI and can be expected to bounce back. Championship debutants Lee Allen and Bobby Thompson impressed last time out, with multiple saloon-racing champion Allen collecting a hat-trick of sevenths in his Maximum Motorsport Scirocco and 18-year-old former Fiesta racer Thompson a top-10 finisher three times also.

Nottingham-based racer Jack Walker-Tully and double VW Cup champion Phil House complete the top 10 as the championship heads to the Speedway, with AWM Golf driver Simon Tomlinson knocking on the door to join them after a consistently good showing in the three opening rounds.

Disabled racer Simon Andrews, whose Golf was badly damaged in a startline shunt at Oulton Park, hopes all will be repaired in time to enable him this time to enjoy more than a few seconds of competition. Sixteen-year-old Damani Marcano returns with Team HARD as the youngest in the field.

Rockingham timetable
Saturday 2 May 1130 qualifying, 1705 Round 4
Sunday 3 May 1130 Round 5, 1650 Round 6

NEWS RELEASE 6 APRIL 2015

Images for download

Just as he demonstrated in Saturday’s first round of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup, David Sutton and his SlideSports Scirocco were on perfect form for the start of the season and for Oulton Park. In a carbon-copy performance, the 24-year-old from Rotherham started round three from pole position, made an impeccable getaway to the race, and led all the way to the chequered flag to earn himself a handsome championship lead.

On this occasion it was Howard Fuller who kept Sutton honest. Howard’s Team HARD Golf started alongside Sutton from the front row and slotted neatly in behind at the start and kept within range throughout – at its largest the gap between them was just 1.4 seconds. Fuller held station, hoping for a mistake, but none came.

“It’s the perfect end to a nearly perfect weekend,” said victor Sutton, who struggled financially to get to the opening rounds, “and fantastic points for the championship… Hopefully it will help me to find some sponsorship so that I can come back at Rockingham and defend my lead. To be honest, unless someone comes forward to help then I won’t be there…”

Fuller, who was involved in a serious crash at Oulton Park at the start of 2014, was far from disappointed not to have been able to find a way past: “Considering that last year I left this circuit in an air ambulance, I’m well pleased with my weekend. It was great to be able to stay on terms with David and to prove that the Golf can be competitive against the Scirocco; there were one or two occasions when I could have had a go at him but I thought better of it. I am quite happy to take two thirds and a second from the first three races.”

Lucas Orrock held third throughout the race, and a lonely finish it was for the Vindis-backed Scirocco, 11 seconds behind the leaders and 5.5s in front of the pursuing Aaron Mason. Said Lucas: “You could see from the off that we didn’t have the pace to compete with the front two. We’ll have to go away and see why that is… I decided there was no sense in pushing: I had a good gap to Aaron and so it was a case of backing off 10 per cent and staying where I was.”

Mason’s AWM Scirocco, which started fifth, passed Phil House’s PH Motorsports Scirocco for fourth after three laps but was unable to make a dent in Orrock’s lead over him. House came home fifth for his best finish of the weekend, ahead of the Safe and Sound Golf of Joe Fulbrook and with championship newcomer Lee Allen seventh for the third race in succession for Maximum Motorsport.

Young guns Jack Walker-Tully and Bobby Thompson finished next up, with round two victor Joe McMillan classified 10th. Joe would have finished higher up the order but for a 10-second penalty imposed for an out-of-position start. Former single-seater racer Michael Epps claimed 11th, his best finish for Team HARD during the Oulton Park weekend.

Twelfth, and a delighted recipient of the RacingLine Sportsman’s Trophy at his home circuit, was KPM racer Philip Morris: “I’m very pleased: I got my racing licence at 50, and this is my first trophy after five years of trying. I’m pleased to have done it properly and won the trophy by finishing well ahead of all the other eligible drivers.”

Pete Littler, who failed to make the start of round two after his JWB Scirocco suffered gearbox problems, came home 15th, behind the Golfs of Laura Tillett and Simon Tomlinson, with Team HARD running mates Simon Rudd, Peter Davis and Karolis Staniukynas completing the finishing order.

It was a race of attrition for many: Mark Smith and Paul Dehadray were among the retirees after they tangled at Old Hall on lap six, and Simon Deaton removed himself from the race with an off at Shell on the eighth lap. There were further mechanical woes for the youngest competitor, Damani Marcano.

The most disappointed driver at Oulton Park was Simon Andrews, whose Golf was badly damaged in a startline shunt on Saturday. Despite the best efforts of many willing hands from the paddock, it proved impossible to restore the wheelchair-bound racer’s car to full health in time to make the grid today. Said Simon: “I’m totally gutted but I want to thank everyone from the KPM team, who gave their time and spare parts to try to get us out there. It wasn’t to be, but it reminded me of the real spirit of this championship and why I love racing in it.”

Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup
Provisional results Round 3 Oulton Park 6/4/15
11 laps / 29.61 miles
1 David SUTTON SlideSports Scirocco 20m 39.466s / 86.00mph
2 Howard FULLER Team HARD Golf +0.731s
3 Lucas ORROCK KPM Racing Scirocco +12.002s
4 Aaron MASON AWM Scirocco +17.544s
5 Phil HOUSE PH Motorsport Scirocco +27.789s
6 Joe FULBROOK AWM/Safe & Sound Golf +29.460s
7 Lee ALLEN Maximum Motorsport Scirocco +32.764s
8 Jack WALKER-TULLY Cooke & Mason Scirocco +34.339s
9 Bobby THOMPSON Team HARD Golf +39.186s
10 Joe McMILLAN Cobra Engineering Scirocco +45.587s etc
Fastest lap Fuller 1m 51.662s / 86.79mph

Full results

Provisional standings
1 Sutton 132 points; 2 Fuller 118; 3 Mason 114; 4 McMillan 102; 5 Orrock 100; 6 Fulbrook 98; 7 Allen 90; 8 Walker-Tully 88; 9 House 86; 10 Thompson 76 etc

NEWS RELEASE 6 APRIL 2015

Images for download

The Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup welcomed a new race winner to the fold this morning at Oulton Park, when Joe McMillan led the second round of the 2015 championship from opening lap to chequered flag in his Cobra Engineering Scirocco.

McMillan, who had scored what was his best result in the championship to date when he finished fifth in Saturday’s opening round, started from the front row alongside another Joe, reigning champion Fulbrook, in the Safe and Sound Golf GTI. Fulbrook and McMillan left the grid together and raced side by side down The Avenue and through Cascades before the senior Joe yielded the lead to his younger rival.

Fulbrook lost second place before the end of the lap to Saturday’s race winner David Sutton, who was not about to let a sixth-place starting position get in the way of his bid for another victory. By lap’s end Sutton’s SlideSports Scirocco was just a quarter-second behind McMillan and settling in to attack for top spot.

But McMillan proved more than equal to the challenge. Despite never having led a VW Cup race before he defended his position brilliantly and never let Sutton get close enough to mount a serious bid. At the flag, Joe led David by seven-tenths of a second, and Sutton was fulsome in his praise for the winner: “Credit where it’s due, he’s very good at defending. I think I had more pace than him and if I could have got by I would have pulled away from him. But fair play, he deserved that one.”

Added a delighted McMillan: “I didn’t think I was going to get the win, to be fair. David was all over me the whole race and kept the pressure on, especially in the harder-braking areas where he was a lot better than me. We’ve done a lot of testing over the winter because the best I could manage last year was to race in the mid-pack, so it’s really pleasing that it has all paid off.”

Fulbrook saw off a challenge to his third place from Lucas Orrock (KPM Scirocco), the pair touching at Lodge at the end of lap three and Orrock spinning back to 10th as a result, but Joe was powerless to prevent his AWM running mate Aaron Mason from passing him at the next corner, Old Hall. Team HARD Golf man Howard Fuller followed Mason through for fourth place shortly afterwards, demoting Fulbrook to fifth.

The position-swapping wasn’t over yet: two laps from the end Fuller got the better of Mason to secure third, Aaron complaining that the weight being carried by his powerful Scirocco was proving too much for his tyres. Fuller was pleased with his second podium finish in as many races: “It was hard work, but I’m a little happier with that podium than I was with the first. I dropped right back and had to come back through, so harder work but more pleasing.”

Jack Walker-Tully (Cooke & Mason Scirocco) got past championship newcomer Lee Allen (Maximum Motorsport Scirocco) early on to secure sixth place, Jack enjoying a much better race than he did on Saturday thanks to set-up changes. Allen took seventh ahead of Phil House, who was delighted that his PH Motorsport Scirocco ran cleanly in the cooler temperatures to allow him to race competitively for the first time this year.

After his Lodge corner contact with the barriers, Orrock was able to come back from 10th to ninth by the end, ahead of Bobby Thompson. Bobby was caught out by the chilly track conditions and found the handling of his Team HARD Golf far from ideal, but was able to stay well ahead of Simon Deaton’s Maximum Scirocco to claim the final top-10 slot.

There was a great battle for 12th and the RacingLine Sportsman’s Trophy between Mark Clynes (JWB Scirocco) and Simon Tomlinson (AWM Golf). Clynes made a great start from 17th on the grid to gain three places on the opening lap and made his move on Tomlinson stick on the seventh lap.

Michael Epps claimed 14th spot for Team HARD ahead of Matt Wilson’s Complete Racing GTI. Laura Tillett survived a grassy moment and an electrics cut-out to finish 16th in front of Paul Dehadray, Mark Smith, Peter Davies and Karolis Staniukynas. Sixteen-year-old Damani Marcano was the final finisher for Team HARD, delayed by a spin early on and a turbo pipe problem in the latter stages. Simon Rudd spun off after contact with Mark Smith and he was joined in retirement by Cameron Thompson and Pete Littler.

Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup
Provisional results Round 2 Oulton Park 6/4/15
11 laps / 29.61 miles
1 Joe McMILLAN Cobra Engineering Scirocco 20m 52.766s / 85.09mph
2 David SUTTON SlideSports Scirocco +0.718s
3 Howard FULLER Team HARD Golf +2.570s
4 Aaron MASON AWM Scirocco +3.375s
5 Joe FULBROOK AWM/Safe & Sound Golf +6.572s
6 Jack WALKER-TULLY Cooke & Mason Scirocco +9.118s
7 Lee ALLEN Maximum Motorsport Scirocco +9.489s
8 Phil HOUSE PH Motorsport Scirocco +11.520s
9 Lucas ORROCK KPM Racing Scirocco +21.127s
10 Bobby THOMPSON Team HARD Golf +25.467s etc
Fastest lap Mason 1m 51.418s / 86.98mph Record

Full results

Provisional standings
1 Sutton 88 points; 2=McMillan & Mason 78; 4 Fuller 76; 5 Fulbrook 66; 6 Orrock 62 etc

NEWS RELEASE 4 APRIL 2015

Images for download

SlideSports driver David Sutton made the perfect start to 2015 during round one of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup at Oulton Park this afternoon with a dominant lights-to-flag victory ahead of former champion Aaron Mason.

Scirocco driver Sutton, who is only registered for the first weekend at present due to budget restrictions, more than confirmed his championship potential with a very comfortable 2.3-second victory as well as the fastest race lap and a new lap record.

Mason, who had to settle for sixth on the grid after a spin at Shell Oils Hairpin late on during qualifying, made a sensational start to leap into the top three before then quickly usurping Howard Fuller for second.

While almost matching Sutton’s pace during the latter stages, Mason wasn’t able to get on terms with the leader, who had already pulled 1.3 seconds clear of the pack on lap one alone. Fuller, who started second on the grid as the only Golf pilot on the first four rows, came out on top of a tight battle with Lucas Orrock’s Scirocco to claim the final spot on the podium.

“We knew from qualifying we had the pace, we knew the car would stay there, so it was all about getting my head down, putting consistent laps in,” said Sutton. “It’s a good start to the year, I’m only signed up to do this round due to budget issues but after these results hopefully we can go on and get the funds we need to continue.”

Conditions for round one were a big improvement over the morning’s qualifying session, overnight rain leaving the track very damp for the grid-determining shoot-out – although it did dry sufficiently for times to tumble with slick tyres as the session progressed. Sutton, as he ultimately managed to do in the race, dominated to take pole by 0.6 seconds.

The original race start had to be abandoned when a mid-pack tangle resulted in Simon Andrews’ Golf and Cameron Thompson’s Scirocco becoming stranded on the grid. At the restart, over a shortened 15-minute duration, Sutton repeated the excellent getaway he managed at the first time of asking and quickly pulled clear.

Mason, Fuller and Orrock were pretty evenly matched for the bulk of the race, with lap times within a tenth or two of each other, but the 2013 champion managed to edge away from his two rivals during the closing stages to take the runner-up spot, 1.5 seconds clear of Fuller.

Orrock, who qualified his Milltek Sport Scirocco third on the grid, led Fuller for almost the entirety of the eight-lap contest despite immense pressure from the Team HARD driver. Having a late look on the brakes at Old Hall on the penultimate tour, Fuller then repeated the move successfully on the final lap to grab the position.

Joe McMillan finished what, for him, was a largely uneventful race in fifth position with reigning champion Joe Fulbrook a strong sixth. Having struggled with gearbox problems in qualifying Fulbrook had to settle for 11th on the grid, but in the race his class showed as he sliced his way through into the top half dozen.

Reflecting on round one, Mason said: “I got a great start, if it wasn’t for that really good start I would have struggled to keep on the pace of Howard and Lucas. I couldn’t do anything about David, he was long gone and I was just hoping for his tyres to go off. With it being a shortened race, though, there was no chance of that but I’m pleased with second place.”

Third placed Fuller said: “We did the best we could, qualifying was a bit disappointing – I lost a bit of time in the last sector – but I’m happy with the race. I tried to keep it as clean as possible, our car just got better and better. I lined him [Orrock] up the lap before at Old Hall and then went for it on the last lap.”

Completing the top 10 finishers were Maximum Motorsport’s Lee Allen, Cooke & Mason’s Jack Walker-Tully, Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson and PH Motorsport’s Phil House – the latter having slipped out of the top 10 on lap five, having been a top-five challenger early on. Simon Deaton, who climbed from 14th place into 11th at the finish, was named the ‘Sportsman Trophy’ winner.

Aside from the incident involving Andrews and Cameron Thompson, only two other drivers failed to make the finish. Chris Panayiotou exited the race on lap seven at Shell Oils while Paul Dehadray’s Scirocco slowed to a halt a lap earlier.

Rounds two and three of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup are scheduled for Easter Monday at Oulton Park.

Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup
Provisional results Round 1 Oulton Park 4/4/15
8 laps / 21.54 miles
1 David SUTTON SlideSports Scirocco 15m 05.260s / 85.64mph
2 Aaron MASON AWM Scirocco +2.290s
3 Howard FULLER Team HARD Golf +3.838s
4 Lucas ORROCK KPM Racing Scirocco +4.703s
5 Joe McMILLAN Cobra Engineering Scirocco +6.860s
6 Joe FULBROOK AWM/Safe & Sound Golf +14.243s
7 Lee ALLEN Maximum Motorsport Scirocco +15.804s
8 Jack WALKER-TULLY Cooke & Mason Scirocco +16.157s
9 Bobby THOMPSON Team HARD Golf +17.258s
10 Phil HOUSE PH Motorsport Scirocco +21.908s etc
Fastest lap Sutton 1m 52.111s / 86.44mph Record

Full results

Provisional standings
1 Sutton 48 points; 2 Mason 40; 3 Fuller 38; 4 Orrock 36; 5 McMillan 34; 6 Fulbrook 32; 7 Allen 30; 8 Walker-Tully 28; 9 Thompson 26; 10 House 24 etc

 

NEWS RELEASE 4 APRIL 2015

David Sutton and the SlideSports team laid down an early challenge today to their Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup rivals, claiming pole position for the opening round by a 0.6s margin. Sutton’s best lap of the 2.7-mile Cheshire circuit was 1m 51.636s, with Team HARD’s Howard Fuller his closest challenger at 1m 52.282s.

Last year’s vice champion Lucas Orrock will line up third on the grid ahead of double champion Phil House and Joe McMillan in his Cobra Engineering Scirocco. A late-session spin at Shell Oils flat-spotted Aaron Mason’s tyres; he’ll start sixth. Reigning champion Joe Fulbrook will go from 11th after suffering gearbox issues.

Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup
Leading qualifying times Oulton Park 4 April 2015
1 David SUTTON SlideSports Scirocco 1:51.636
2 Howard FULLER Team HARD Golf 1:52.282
3 Lucas ORROCK KPM Scirocco 1:52.625
4 Phil HOUSE PH Motorsport Scirocco 1:53.041
5 Joe McMILLAN Cobra Scirocco 1:53.138
6 Aaron MASON AWM Scirocco 1:53.350
7 Jack WALKER-TULLY Cooke & Mason Scirocco 1:53.464
8 Chris PANAYIOTOU SlideSports Scirocco 1:53.539
9 Bobby THOMPSON Team HARD Golf 1:53.660
10 Lee ALLEN Maximum Scirocco 1:54.351 etc

Full times

NEWS RELEASE 27 MARCH 2015

A 30-car field is expected at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend (4-6 April) for what promises to be one of the most exciting seasons on record for the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup.

With three former champions on the grid, plus a further three race winners from recent seasons and some exciting newcomers, the championship is set to cement its position as the best-supported ‘single-badge’ race series in the UK.

New for 2015 are the introduction of live coverage on Motors TV from five of the seven Racing Cup meetings; more races, with the championship set to be decided over 16 rounds; and five extra-length races. There is also the new RacingLine Sportsman’s Trophy competition, designed to encourage the gentleman driver.

“We saw seven different race winners in 2014 and I think there is every chance that there will be even closer competition this season,” said Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup championship manager Matt Walker. “The first two meetings of the year will feature three races each and will be tough for the competitors, and the longer races later on are going to require a lot of strategy and planning. I’m not brave enough to make any predictions other than there will be some great action.”

Runners and riders
Leading the contenders into battle are the Golf GTI of three-time champion Joe Fulbrook and his Scirocco-driving AWM team-mate Aaron Mason, winner of the championship in 2013. Mason and Fulbrook are way out in front of the VW Cup race wins table with 20 and 16 victories respectively, and both look certain to add to their tallies this season.

The third returning champion is Phil House, who won the title in 2004 and ’05 in a Beetle, and who is back for another crack at it with his self-prepared Scirocco. House endured a miserable 2014 season but says he hopes he has cracked the issue which thwarted his pace: “A new turbo seems to have worked wonders – hopefully I will be a lot more competitive.”

Fulbrook beat car-racing rookie Lucas Orrock to the championship title last year by just six points, and with a year’s experience under his belt the Cambridgeshire 24-year-old is certain to be even stronger rival in 2015. Orrock returns with Milltek backing for his KPM Racing-prepared Scirocco.

Orrock took one race win last year to Mason’s four and Fulbrook’s two. Another double winner was David Sutton, who returns with a strengthened SlideSports team alongside former Mini Challenge frontrunner Chris Panayiotou.

The other drivers with VW Cup race-winning experience are international rally ace Robert Barrable, who will unfortunately miss the opening rounds but who will later on be seeking to replicate the impressive form he showed in the THM Racing Golf GTI on his debut at Donington Park at the end of last season; and Howard Fuller, who returns at the head of a literally rejuvenated Team HARD squad which boasts three teenage competitors – Rob Cox, Bobby Thompson and rookie Damani Marcano, just 16 – as well as the championship’s sole female, Laura Tillett, its first Lithuanian pilot in novice Karolis Staniukynas, and second-year competitor Simon Rudd.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup has made a great name for itself in recent seasons as the place for disabled racers to get to grips with the track and to compete on a level playing field with their able-bodied rivals. Successful former rally driver Pete Littler is the latest to take the challenge; the Warrington-based 50-year-old hasn’t competed since losing a leg in 2004 and is relishing the opportunity of racing one of the JW Bird Motorsport team’s Sciroccos: “I’ve tested the car and loved it; my only worry is that as a rally driver I’m used to taking a line through a corner and not having to worry about anybody else around me. It could be interesting…” Littler, 50, won several national-level forest rallies in 2000 and 2001 with the works Ford and Hyundai teams.

The championship’s other disabled racers are Philip Morris, who returns with a rebuilt KPM Golf after a major crash in testing last year, and wheelchair user Simon Andrews with his distinctive ‘polizei’-liveried DSG semi-auto Golf.

Littler’s JWB team-mates for the season are experienced Scirocco hands Mark Clynes and Paul Dehadray, while Andrews will line up alongside Fulbrook, Mason, Simon Tomlinson and Robin Riley in the AWM camp.

Four VW Cup drivers from recent seasons have been elevated to the British Touring Car Championship, including former race-winner Stewart Lines. But Lines’s Maximum Motorsport team races on with a three-Scirocco line-up featuring multiple saloons champion Lee Allen, Simon Deaton and Cameron Thompson.

Others to look out for this year include performance car dealer Graham Ewing, who switches to the SlideSports team; second-season starter Joe McMillan with his Cobra Engineering Scirocco; Jack Walker-Tully, a podium finisher last year with his Cooke and Mason Scirocco; and 19-year-old Matthew Wilson, younger brother of Tom, the championship’s top rookie of 2011.

Then there is Mark Smith, who last raced in the VW Cup in 2005 and who hasn’t competed since a BTCC foray with an Alfa Romeo in ’06; and his old rival from the championship’s early days, Andrew Smith, who plans to debut an all-new Beetle.

NEWS RELEASE 19 MARCH 2015

Reigning champion Joe Fulbrook is to return to the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup looking to claim the championship title for a record fourth time – and he has two new weapons in his armoury to help him achieve his goal.

Under the bonnet of Fulbrook’s multiple race-winning Golf GTI this season will be a new 2-litre turbocharged engine, and on the bonnet will be the logos of his team’s new partner, Safe and Sound – the flagship used car warranty scheme from the WMS Group.

Fulbrook will once again join forces with his 2014 team-mates Aaron Mason, Simon Tomlinson, Robin Riley and Simon Andrews, and is enthused about the coming season, which gets underway at Oulton Park on 4 April:

“The team at RP Motorsports and ST Engineering have been working very hard to make some substantial changes to the car. Every year we try to introduce something new and this year is no exception: we will have a new engine, which will hopefully rid us of the reliability problems which robbed us of a few race wins in 2014.

“We have all been doing this a long time now but we are all still keen for success, and hopefully all our winter work will prove fruitful. The VW Cup is a very different and more competitive series now than when we started out in 2005. Our results over the years show that we have been able to adapt to change, and we are hoping this year will be no different.”

Fulbrook’s maiden season in the championship with a Bora in ’05 was his first foray into any form of racing, and he was soon rewarded with his first win. He won the championship in 2008 and ’09, and regained the crown last year after switching from Bora to Golf power.

“I am delighted to be bringing a new sponsor to the sport,” added Joe. “Safe and Sound is a seven-element scheme which includes an unrivalled wear and tear car warranty, rigorous safety inspection, provenance check and much more. It is also endorsed by Sir Stirling Moss.”

Among Fulbrook’s chief rivals will be his team-mate Mason (Doncaster), who won the crown himself in 2013 with a Scirocco and who last year claimed more race victories – four – than any other driver. “Aaron will be a tough but fair rival,” said Joe, “and we will both profit from sharing data and know-how. I am very pleased also to be racing again with Simon Tomlinson, Robin Riley and Simon Andrews, and both Aaron and I look forward to helping them move further up the grid during the coming season.”

Doncaster-based Tomlinson is entering his fourth season in the championship with a Golf GTI while Scirocco driver Riley (Milton Keynes) will be starting his seventh season in the series. Disabled racer Simon Andrews (Liphook) returns with his distinctively liveried ‘polizei’ Golf GTI looking to return to the form which brought him ninth place overall in the championship in 2012.

With backing from Bluelite Graphics and Volkswagen retailer White Rose Petersfield, Andrews is hoping for a strong showing in the new-for-2015 RacingLine Sportsman’s Trophy. “Unfortunately recent operations left me needing more recovery time than first anticipated, but I have been working on my fitness over the winter months with the aim of returning to the level I was at in the championship in 2012,” said Simon. “The pace this season is going to be hot among us disabled drivers and I need to be on top form.”

The first meeting of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup season is early next month at Oulton Park in Cheshire – qualifying and the first race of the weekend are set for Saturday 4 April, and there will be a further double-helping of race action on Easter Monday, 6 April.

NEWS RELEASE 12 MARCH 2015

The Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup season gets underway in earnest on Monday (16 Mar) when top teams and at least 15 leading drivers are expected on track at Silverstone for an official test day.

Team HARD racing leads the charge, with its new signings Laura Tillett and Howard Fuller among the drivers of its seven new Golf GTIs; the squad’s teen hopefuls Bobby Thompson and Rob Cox will be in action, as will team boss Tony Gilham.

Three cars are expected from Maximum Motorsport, with the SlideSports team represented by Chris Panayiotou. Matthew Wilson will tackle Silverstone for the first time in his Complete Racing Golf, and 2013 podium finisher Jack Walker-Tully is expected at the wheel of his Cooke and Mason Scirocco.

The full-day test on Silverstone’s National circuit is to be split into five separate sessions, and will be timed by TSL.

NEWS RELEASE 10 FEBRUARY 2015

The 2014 Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup Champion, Joe Fulbrook, received his championship trophy at the BRSCC annual awards evening on Saturday. Club chief executive Bernard Cottrell made the presentation.

Last year’s thrilling series was undecided right up to the final corner of the final race, with veteran Fulbrook nipping in to seize the crown by just six points.

It was Fulbrook’s third VW Cup championship win and perhaps his most satisfying, because he went into Donington Park’s final rounds as one of five drivers in with a chance; Joe did not need to win either of the races, but he needed to finish well up the order in both to get the job done and, as several of his rivals found to their cost, that’s not necessarily an easy task.

Joe has remained loyal to the Volkswagen Racing Cup ever since his track debut in 2005 at the wheel of a Bora. He had the crown snatched from his grasp in the 2007 finals but bounced back to win the title in 2008 and ’09 for Warranty Direct Racing. The Bora was retired early in 2013 and replaced with a Golf GTI, with which he won once that season on his way to championship second.

In 2014 the mechanical teething problems which beset Fulbrook’s Golf in its introductory season were largely forgotten and Joe took mid-season wins at Silverstone and Snetterton to establish himself as a title contender. Podium finishes at Oulton Park, Spa and Brands Hatch helped Fulbrook build his tally and third place in the Donington finale was enough to clinch the deal for the Berkshire 43-year-old.