NEWS RELEASE: 17 OCTOBER 2010

‘HERBIE’ CARRIES CHAPLIN TO CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE

Steve Chaplin is the new champion of the Volkswagen Racing Cup with Fuchs Lubricants. The 45-year-old from Gloucestershire and his ‘Herbie’-liveried Beetle RSI clinched the title today at the final meeting of the 2010 season at Donington Park, beating off three rivals for the crown with a second-place and a fourth-place finish in the championship’s concluding rounds.

Maisemore-based Chaplin took over at the head of the points table after the Zandvoort rounds in May and held on in front down to the wire thanks to one race win, four second places and three thirds over the course of the 14 rounds.

It is Steve’s fifth season in the series in partnership with Herbie, and he admits to a little relief at finally getting the mission accomplished: “We have been hunting it down for a while… This is a hard-fought championship and it seems like an awful long time that we have been plodding away at it. The way the points work, one minute you seem miles in front and the next you are right back in the mix again. I haven’t enjoyed defending my lead all year… I go to races to win, to do my best, and this defending business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“I couldn’t have done it without the help of my team, and in particular John Dowds, Craig Davis and Chris Jones, nor without the support I have received from Power Station, AST and Complete Utilities; I’m very grateful to everyone who has assisted along the way.”

Steve says he will probably return to defend his title next season, and hopes to use the experienced he has gained to move on to a GT-racing career. “This is an excellent championship with some wonderful people in it, and I’ve made some great friends. It’s like a holiday going to the races; you come away from work, see all the familiar faces, and I always get the feeling that an awful lot of people are willing me to do well.”

Chaplin’s grip on the crown was almost loosened in the first of the Donington races, when in his spirited defence of fourth place his Beetle was in collision with the Golf GTI of Richard Walker and Chaplin spun before continuing. “I thought that was going to be it,” said Steve, “but I managed to keep it going and carry on.” He crossed the line fifth behind Walker, but race stewards later penalised the Golf man by 1.0s for ‘avoidable contact’, and their placings were reversed.

Aaron Mason it was who won the lucky-for-him round 13, the Comline/AWM Golf GTI driver leading all the way from pole position to chequered flag. The Doncaster driver pulled clear of 2008/’09 champion Joe Fulbrook’s Bora to the tune of 1.3s on the opening lap and posted several fastest laps as he extended his lead to 3.6s at its greatest, though Fulbrook pegged it back to 1.8 seconds by the end.

“Aaron was off like a scalded cat at the start,” said Joe, “and he was a bit more committed than me in some corners and I couldn’t really catch him. If I had and had tried to pass it could have ended in tears, so I am quite happy to settle for second.”

“It was a great race for me,” said Mason. “I really made it pay in the first three laps and managed to build a lead. Towards the end Joe started to close up and very nearly caught me, but I managed to hang on to the end…”

The battle for third was a highlight of the race. Chaplin held sway initially, holding back Richard Walker and then one of his title rivals, Derby driver Peter Felix in another Golf. Felix chased the Beetle for four laps before finding a way past for the final spot on the podium. After the stewards’ ruling, Chaplin was classified fourth ahead of Walker.

Alex Dziurzynski and his brother Didge engaged in a great battle over sixth for many laps, the former’s Corrado just managing to keep the latter’s Mk II Golf GTI – the oldest car in the field – at bay until, alas, Didge started to lose gears and slipped back to finish 12th.

The 2007 champion, Tony Gilham, qualified his Golf fifth but completed the opening lap back in 13th after getting caught up with a spinning Kieran Griffin at Coppice; Tony’s climb back to seventh at the flag was a star performance.

Tim Snaylam’s Golf claimed a solid eighth ahead of Mike Kurton’s Scirocco and Tony Harberman’s Beetle, with Griffin recovering from his early drama to secure 11th ahead of Didge Dziurzynski and Dutch driver Peter Lettinga, who scored his first points in his new KPM Racing-prepared Golf GTI.

The other two title protagonists, Paul Taylor and James Walker, endured difficult races; Taylor’s Golf R32 was classified 15th while Walker finished a lap down in 20th after a pit stop for running repairs following a second-lap collision with the car of Martyn Walsh. Walsh’s Golf was forced to retire. Simon Elliott’s Caddy Van Racer placed 17th.

There was drama – and another stirring drive from Mason to secure victory – in race two. Alex Dziurzynski’s Corrado led from the pole, but Mason, who had started sixth and who battled through to third on the opening lap, swept past both Chaplin and Dziurzynski on lap two. The latter was dispatched with a brave manoeuvre into the Esses to promote Mason to the lead.

There was no running away and hiding for Mason this time, however. Chaplin got past the Corrado for second on the third lap and quickly whittled down Mason’s advantage to next to nothing, breaking the hours-old circuit lap record along the way. Steve made a lunge for the lead through McLeans three laps from the end but was firmly rebuffed, and thereafter Mason’s second win of the day – and third of the season – was never in doubt. “He very nearly got me,” said Aaron, “but I just managed to keep the line.”

Added Chaplin: “Aaron made a good move on me down the straight to take second, and from there on in it was just a case of chasing him really.”

Gilham started seventh this time and avoided any dramas to haul his Golf GTI up to third, passing Felix and Alex Dziurzynski along the way. Said Tony of his podium placing: “It’s good to get a podium; we should have had one in the earlier race but the first-lap incident put us back a little bit…”

Griffin made amends for his first-race spin with a fine drive in the Addison Lee Scirocco from 11th on the grid to fourth at the line, demoting Felix to fifth four laps from the end. Pole-sitter Alex Dziurzynski’s pace faded towards the end and he slipped behind his brother Didge to claim seventh.

James Walker made a storming start from 20th on the grid to move up to 11th on the opening lap, lost a couple of places on lap four after a brush with the Golf of Tim Snaylam, then bounced back to finish eighth, one place ahead of Snaylam, whose recovery from dead last after the contretemps was a brilliant drive.

James’s dad Richard Walker finish 10th after starting from pit lane, with the Golfs of Taylor, Zoe Wenham and Lettinga in line astern. Among the race’s casualties were Peter Wyhinny’s SEAT Leon, which suffered fluid-loss problems, and Harberman’s Beetle, which was beached in a gravel trap after a braking issue. Fulbrook finished 24th and last, a lap down, after pitting for his wheels to be cleaned of gravel following a second-lap excursion while defending fifth.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup with Fuchs Lubricants is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Ceva Logistics, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Hankook, Milltek Sport, KW Automotive, Superchips and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

*Championship competitors celebrated the end of term with a special ‘German v Italian’ saloon car challenge race at Donington. Cars from the Volkswagen Racing Cup and the Alfashop Alfa Romeo Challenge formed the grid and, though the runaway victor was the Alfa 156 touring car of Neil Smith, Volkswagens filled 11 of the top 14 places to win the challenge. Joe Fulbrook’s Bora placed second.