NEWS RELEASE: 30 SEPTEMBER 2012

WALKER CLAIMS VOLKSWAGEN RACING CUP CROWN AT DONINGTON

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James Walker claimed overall championship victory in the 2012 APR Volkswagen Racing Cup in convincing style at Donington Park today, the Nottinghamshire racer guiding his KPM-prepared Scirocco to a brace of podium finishes on his home circuit.

Walker’s results in the championship finale bring his tally of podium finishes for the season to an impressive 11, including two race wins. His prize for going one better than the second place overall he achieved in 2011 is a fully funded outing in the final round of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup at Hockenheim in Germany in mid-October.

The 25-year-old clinched the Cup in the first of the day’s races, in which he placed third behind Aaron Mason and Mike Neuhoff. Mason won again in the second race to clinch championship third, a few points behind Neuhoff.

“This means the world to me, it really does,” said Walker. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m really happy. All credit to KPM – they have done a brilliant job for me all season.”

KPM boss Kevin Poole paid tribute to his championship one-two drivers, Walker and Neuhoff: “I couldn’t have asked for two better guys to work with; they have both driven brilliantly all year and they deserve this success.”

Round 13
The championship notched up an unusual first at Donington Park in not having a practice session. Delays in the Saturday timetable stemming from a power failure at the circuit meant a cancellation of qualifying, and the grid was set instead by championship ranking.

That put Walker on pole in his Cooke and Mason-backed Scirocco, ahead of Neuhoff and the only other driver with a chance of the title, talented young Westcountry driver Tom Wilson. Tom’s hopes, along with those of several others, were dashed by a light shower which made the track treacherous and caused numerous spins and excursions among the slick-shod field.

Mason, who started from fourth, enjoyed an exceptional opening lap in his freshly remapped AWM Golf GTI, rocketing past Wilson, Neuhoff and Walker to take up the running. Walker, tiptoeing around with the championship in mind, held second for five laps before Neuhoff found his way past.

Mason was only six-tenths ahead of a determined Neuhoff at the chequered flag, the Doncaster man relieved to have put behind him the engine gremlins which have marred his season. “It was all about keeping it tidy because it was so slippery out there,” said Mason. “I nearly went off a couple of times so I had to rein it in, which backed me into Michael a bit – he was quicker on some parts of the circuit than me. We’ve put a new turbo in and made some other adjustments since the last meeting, and it seems to have done the job.”

Joe Fulbrook was the only other driver to have held a top-three position, and then only briefly. Challenging Walker for second into Redgate on lap two, the Bora man ran wide and through the gravel trap, his car ingesting so much debris that the power steering failed and left him to struggle for the duration of the race.

Jim Cartwright battled back from a poor start – “I couldn’t get second gear,” said the Matlock man – to take up fourth place on the second lap after Fulbrook’s error, and held on there to the end ahead of truck racer Chris Levett, whose SlideSports Golf demoted Fulbrook to sixth at mid-distance.

Title hopeful Tom Wilson held sixth initially but clashed with a spinning Stewart Lines and was forced to the pits for lengthy bodywork adjustments. He rejoined but finished a title challenge-denting 25th. Richard Morgan claimed seventh in his SlideSports-prepared Golf, ahead of his Scirocco-driving team-mate Craig Milner and Richard Walker, father of James, who blitzed his way from the back of the grid in a KPM Golf despite never having so much as sat in it before raceday.

Tom Wilson’s father, Jonathan, made it two racing dads in the top 10 in his Complete Racing Scirocco, with Coalville driver Tony Harberman 11th on his home circuit in his Beetle RSI. Jack Walker-Tulley, cousin of James, made it a real family affair by completing the top 12 in his KPM Golf – his first-ever race finish. Simon Andrews slipped to 13th in the latter stages in his Golf, having run as high as fourth after a lightning start. Golf men Andy Wilmot and Mark Clynes filled out the top 15.

Kieran Griffin’s miserable luck continued, his Scirocco being collected while it was spinning by the SEAT of Paul Wyhinny, who had no chance to avoid it. Both men retired after the seventh-lap incident.

Round 14
With the top six from race one reversed on the grid it was Fulbrook who started from pole position, but Joe erred at the Old Hairpin on lap one, ran wide, and slipped back to seventh by the end of the opening lap. That put Cartwright out in front, but only for a lap before Mason, up from sixth, battled past him to set up a reprise of his earlier victory.

A three-lap safety car period, to allow the retrieval of Paul Dehadray’s damaged Golf to a place of safety, gave Mason the opportunity to plan his next move; he executed it perfectly at the restart to gain ground on Cartwright and set the seal on his fourth race win of the season.

Cartwright held on to second in front of Levett until lap eight, when James Walker, unburdened of the need to drive conservatively with the championship in mind, leapfrogged them both to take the running as Mason’s closest challenger. Next time around Cartwright made an error at the hairpin and slipped to ninth.

James chased Aaron hard to close to within three seconds of the Golf man at the line, and right behind him was Walker Senior, up from ninth on the grid and enjoying every minute of his comeback race. Richard had stolen third from Levett on the penultimate lap but was a little too late on the scene to do much about depriving his championship-winning offspring of second place.

“The car is powerful and turns in really nicely,” said Richard, “the only problem I had was the brake balance. If it wasn’t for that I would have beaten the young boy…”

Winner Mason was very pleased with win number four: “It’s a good way to end the year. It’s been a great season and also a troubled one for us, but everyone has problems and some of them are of our own making. I’ll learn from it, move on and hopefully come back stronger next season.”

“That was a great race,” added James Walker. “I was able to let my hair down and race for once. It was a pity that Aaron was able to make the break he did but I enjoyed it all the same. I couldn’t believe who was in my mirrors at the end…”

Levett held on for fourth for SlideSports, ahead of Neuhoff, who was driving cautiously in order to preserve his championship second, and then two men who came through from the back of the grid after their race-one dramas: Lines and Tom Wilson. Morgan was eighth this time from Cartwright, with Harberman an excellent 10th ahead of another Leicestershire driver, 16-year-old Henry Gilbert in his Team HARD Golf GTI.

Fulbrook endured a couple more excursions on his way to 12th ahead of David Fairbrother, Wilmot and Wyhinny. Andrews had looked set for 15th place until the final lap, when his bonnet flew up and smashed his Golf’s windscreen; rather than drive blind he had to pull off.

The APR Volkswagen Racing Cup enjoys additional support from Ceva, ECM, Eibach, Hankook, Milltek Sport and Paragon.