Pictured: Aaron Mason. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 1 JUNE 2014

MASON CARVES HIS WAY THROUGH TO SILVERSTONE WIN

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Robbed of possible victories at Rockingham and in the first Silverstone race, Aaron Mason this afternoon enjoyed a trouble-free run to his third win of the 2014 Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup season. Mason’s AWM/Warranty Direct Scirocco stormed from 11th place on the grid – his worst starting position of the season – to the lead within four laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, and held off massive challenges from Jack Walker-Tully and Stefan Di Resta to take the honours.

Round six provided numerous changes of lead and the result was uncertain right to the line, where less than a second separated the top three after the most exciting race of the season so far, contested by a near-capacity field of 30 Volkswagens.

Having taken sixth place in race one, championship leader James Greenway started from the pole in the White Rose Volkswagen, ahead of the Sciroccos of Josh Caygill and Chris Panayiotou. A gearchange issue cost Greenway his chance to convert pole to lead, however: “I really struggled to get it into second away from the start and that messed things up a bit and dropped us back,” said James.

Caygill led the opening lap but was unable to hold back Di Resta, who had enjoyed a superb opening lap from seventh on the grid in the JWB Motorsport Scirocco, through Stowe on the second lap. Panayiotou followed Di Resta’s example to push Caygill back to third, and then the mercurial Mason stole that position from Josh also before the second lap’s end.

Lap three saw Mason draft past Panayiotou for second through Vale, and on lap four Aaron took the lead with a neat manoeuvre on Di Resta into Stowe. But any hopes that Mason may have harboured of pulling clear in the remaining five laps faded with his tyres. Di Resta never allowed him to pull more than a car’s length ahead and Jack Walker-Tully, who took over second place four laps from the end, was even more aggressive in his pursuit.

Walker-Tully tried everything in his repertoire to try to force an error from the reigning champion but had to settle for second at the flag. “I think I had the pace to beat Aaron but he kept the door closed and I just couldn’t find a way past. Second is the best I could have hoped for and I’m really happy with it,” said Jack. Post-race, Jack's Scirocco was found to be marginally over power and he was excluded from the results.

“I was really lucky to get the car home at all in the first race, and therefore fortunate to start this one from 11th,” said Mason. “I was even more fortunate to be able to get all the hard work done in the first few laps so that I didn’t have too much battling to do later on with tyres that were going off.”

Added Di Resta: “I’m happy. I feel I should have finished the first race sixth and started this one from pole, but I did well to get in the lead early even though I didn’t have the pace to stay there. I misjudged the end of the race – the chequered flag came out a lap earlier than I was expecting – which was a shame because I was planning to try a move on Jack.”

Panayiotou, rueing a decision to fit only one fresh Hankook to the front axle of his Maximum Motorsport Scirocco, came home third, ahead of Joe Fulbrook’s first-race-winning Golf, another car suffering from worn tyres.

After leading the opening lap, Caygill’s Scirocco started to succumb to oversteer and he slipped to fifth, chased hard by Lucas Orrock’s KPM car. They tangled as they disputed the position on lap six and both men were delayed, Caygill recovering to fifth following Walker-Tully's exclusion.

Delayed by a puncture and a pit stop in race one, Tony Gilham enjoyed a better time in race two of his seasonal debut, battling through to sixth by the end after starting 16th in the Team Hard Golf.

Despite failing to make the podium in either race, Greenway maintains his lead in the championship. He finished race two in seventh place, saying: “We made some changes to the car between the races to try to make the tyres last longer but we really struggled, so it was a case of trying to salvage the best position I could. We’ll get some testing in before Snetterton and things should be different there.”

Slowed by the success ballast his Golf earned from race one, Sam Morgan came home eighth ahead of Tom Barley’s Golf, Orrock’s battle-scarred KPM Scirocco and Phil House’s PH Motorsport car. After failing to finish race one, Stewart Lines came from the back of the grid to 12th, with David Fairbrother’s Pall-Ex car, George White’s KPM Scirocco and Joe McMillan's Cobra car completing the top 15. Fairbrother’s SlideSports team-mate David Sutton, a double podium finisher at Rockingham last time, completed a miserable down-on-power Silverstone weekend in 26th and last place following a pit stop.