Pictured: Nick Beaumont takes the flag. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 11 AUGUST 2013

BEAUMONT CLAIMS MAIDEN WIN FOR JWB SCIROCCO

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Nick Beaumont converted his pole position to a race victory in the first of the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup events on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit after a titanic battle with championship leader Aaron Mason. The path to delivering the JWB Motorsport team’s maiden win was made all the trickier by a poor start from Beaumont; Phil House set the pace early on, pursued by Ross Wylie and Mason.

David Sutton made the best getaway, the Team HARD Golf GTI driver leading into Paddock Hill Bend and as far as Sheene Corner, where he spun into the barriers. “The car dropped into ‘limp mode’ and spat me off the track,” said a disappointed Sutton, who was playing his points-doubling Joker card after securing second on the grid. The first lap was completed with House heading the order from Wylie, Mason and Beaumont, with Henry Gilbert holding off Joe Fulbrook for fifth.

Wylie made a bid for the lead through Paddock Hill Bend at the start of the third lap but was repulsed by House and delayed sufficiently for Mason to pounce on him into the Druids hairpin, pushing the Scot back to third. Worse lay in wait for the SlideSports Scirocco driver at the ultra-fast Hawthorns right-hander, where Ross lost his brakes. “The pedal went straight to the floor and didn’t come back,” said Wylie, who went off and into the barriers, fortunately without causing serious damage.

Mason seized his chance for glory through Clearways and Clark Curve at the end of the third lap, squeezing down the inside of House’s PH Motorsport Scirocco with a brave and successful manoeuvre. Beaumont pushed House back to third next time around through Surtees, and thereafter Phil fell back with overheating problems causing a loss of power.

With Mason carrying 72kg of success ballast and Beaumont only 8kg, the new leader’s hopes of maintaining his advantage were always slim. Nick quickly closed the gap and, on the seventh lap, dived through on the inside into Surtees. Side-by-side Beaumont and Mason ran for half a lap, until Aaron managed to nose back in front at Hawthorns. This battling allowed the third and fourth-placed cars of Stewart Lines and championship newcomer Chris Panayiotou to join the bunfight.

Surtees corner on the 10th lap settled the matter in Beaumont’s favour, the JWB man taking the lead in decisive fashion and romping away as Mason was left to defend second from the others. At the line Nick was 1.2 clear of Aaron.

“I screwed up the start,” said Beaumont on the podium. “Too many revs, the clutch got hot and I lost a lot of places. Then I got back to second and had a great fight with Aaron – we were side-by-side for about three-quarters of a lap, and I knew because it was Aaron that he wasn’t going to take me off. I’m really pleased for the team and delighted to prove what a good car the JWB Scirocco is.”

Added Mason: “I hadn’t planned to go for it in this race but after the first three corners I found myself in a decent position, so I thought ‘why not?’ The car was good for the first three or four laps and then the extra weight killed it, with my tyres going off a lot quicker than anyone else’s. Nick and I were getting backed up into the pack behind so I let him go through.”

KPM team-mates Lines and Panayiotou battled to the line, swapping places and paintwork on each of the final four laps. Stewart and his Sirocco were holding the parcel when the music stopped, Lines collecting his fifth podium of the season. Ex-Clio and Mini racer Panayiotou was delighted with his maiden VW Cup race performance in the KPM Mk VI Golf GTI: “Given that I had very little experience of the car – I just jumped in it and raced, really – I’m very pleased. Stewart is a great guy to race against and we had a good battle.”

Gilbert and Martin Depper duelled over fifth for many laps, the 17-year-old Golf driver surviving a last lap brush with Depper’s Scirocco which detached the latter’s rear bumper. They finished fifth and sixth, with House a disappointed and down-on-power seventh.

Josh Caygill overcame his AWM/Warranty Direct running mate Joe Fulbrook for eighth on the drama-filled last lap, with prospective BTCC racer Kieran Gallagher 10th and the leading Team HARD finisher after Tom Barley was docked five seconds for exceeding the track limits at Paddock Hill Bend. Kieran Gallagher capped a good day for JWB with 11th.

Barley’s penalty dropped him to 13th, just behind Peter Wyhinny’s SEAT, with whom ironically Tom had come together at Druids earlier in the race. Jack Walker-Tulley and championship returnee Richard Morgan completed the top 15, ahead of Philip Morris, David Fairbrother, Sam Morgan, Simon Andrews and Simon Tomlinson. Rookie racer Richard Levett, brother of championship regular Chris, claimed a creditable 23rd in his JWB Golf, behind Mark Clynes and Paul Dehadray and just ahead of the final finisher, the down-on-power Caddy van of David Garnsworthy. Graham Perkins joined Sutton and Wylie in retirement, spinning his Golf into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel on lap two.