NEWS RELEASE: 9 SEPTEMBER 2012

DEPPER LEADS HOME A SECOND KPM 1-2-3 AT SILVERSTONE

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Championship newcomer Martin Depper made a strong impression on the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup at Silverstone this weekend, becoming not only the ninth different race winner of the season but also the first to win both races in a weekend. Depper’s Scirocco led home a KPM 1-2-3 in both events.

There was disappointment for another KPM Scirocco pilot, however: championship leader James Walker was sidelined from the second race by a collision. It was not only his first no-score of the season but also a blow to his hopes of clinching the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup title with a meeting in hand.

With the first-race top six reversed for Sunday’s sprint, Peter Felix took the pole in his Golf, ahead of Griffin, Levett, Walker and Cartwright. Depper did not hang about from sixth on the grid, charging past the others to slot into second on the opening lap, just 0.7s behind Felix.

A mistake on the third lap by Felix, when he clipped the kerb at Luffield, gave Depper the opportunity to close in further still, and next time around, at Village, the Scirocco man outbraked his rival to slot into the lead.

“When Martin came up the inside of me it wasn’t a problem for me,” said Felix. “he made a good manoeuvre and I wasn’t going to move over on him. The thing then was that I got a driver warning flag for exceeding track limits and I had to be very careful not to do it again.”

Depper pulled clear to win by 7.5s and was thrilled to be the season’s first double winner. “That’s what I like – firsts,” said Martin. “I had to get past quite a few people today and then Peter. He had quite good pace but I could tell that his tyres were starting to suffer. It was a case of biding my time and picking my moment.”

Walker’s grip on third place was loosened by Cartwright on the third lap. James fought back past Jim next time around but they were both usurped on lap five by Stewart Lines, having a great run up to that point from ninth on the grid in his Golf GTI. Unfortunately it all went wrong for Stewart on the sixth lap with a big moment at Village.

Behind Lines there was more grief as Fulbrook and Walker made contact, sidelining both, and Griffin spun his Scirocco, with Tom Wilson having to take avoiding action. This shake out put Cartwright back to third, which position he held to the end despite losing his power steering, and Levett to fourth, just ahead of the Team HARD Golfs of Nikhil Chopra and Andy Wilmot.

Chopra was having his best race of the season from 14th on the grid and, though he lost a place to Tom Wilson on the final lap, the 17-year-old finished a deserved sixth, ahead of his more experienced team-mate Wilmot, for whom seventh was a personal best.

Mike Neuhoff made up the most places of anyone, the KPM Golf driver having started from the very back after his race one retirement; eighth was his reward for a charging drive through the field.

Simon Andrews made another excellent start to make it to fifth around the first few corners, but the Golf man was pushed back to eighth by the opening lap’s end. He slipped further down but bounced back to ninth at the flag, ahead of David Fairbrother, whose 10th place was his best of the year so far.

Jonathan Wilson was 11th to maintain his unbroken scoring record, ahead of Richard Morgan and Lines, who slipped back with mechanical problems after his off-track excursion. Henry Gilbert made it to the finish line for the first time at his third attempt, in 14th, and Cameron Thompson completed the top 15.

The championship goes down to the wire at Donington Park at the end of the month with only one driver – Tom Wilson – able to deny Walker the crown. With 96 points to make up, it will be a tough job for the Westcountry youngster to pull off, even though he has the advantage of still having his Joker card to play.