Pictured: Lucas Orrock. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 11 JULY 2014

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MAIDEN WIN FOR KPM’S LUCAS ORROCK AT SPA

Standing atop the podium celebrating your first race win is a highlight for any young driver. When that moment comes at Spa-Francorchamps, the spiritual home of European motorsport, the sentiment is all the stronger. Lucas Orrock’s beaming smile this afternoon said it all as he savoured the podium celebrations following the ninth round of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup.

Despite it being his maiden racing experience of the 7km Belgian Grand Prix circuit, 23-year-old Orrock showed steely nerves to hold off reigning champion Aaron Mason and take the win for KPM Motorsport, the team’s fourth Spa win in three years.

Any hopes Mason may have had of depriving Orrock of the victory evaporated when one of the tyres on his AWM/Warranty Direct Scirocco suffered damage on the penultimate lap – Aaron was forced to the pits for a safety check and result-sheet anonymity.

Orrock, Mason, SlideSports man David Sutton and Milltek Sport-backed James Walker staged a brilliant race between them, with Sutton’s Scirocco stealing the lead on the opening lap after relatively slow getaways from front-row men Mason and Stefan Di Resta (JWB Motorsport).

Mason reasserted himself in front at the start of the second lap, but then both he and Orrock made momentary errors: “It was a strange one,” said Lucas. “Aaron was leading with David in second and me third going up through Eau Rouge, and there was a red light at the side of the track. Both Aaron and I saw it and thought it might mean a red flag and a race stop, and we both throttled back. We got to the top of Eau Rouge and saw there was no red flag, but by this time David had gone in front.”

Orrock managed to displace Mason from second on the inside at Stavelot and gave chase to Sutton. Added Lucas: “David hadn’t really got too far away, and I managed to get a good run on him down the start/finish straight and slip up the inside into La Source.”

From there on Orrock was never headed, but Mason took advantage of Sutton’s by now overheating Scirocco to slot into second and bring lap-after-lap pressure on the leader. But by the seventh of the nine laps Lucas had managed to pull clear by nearly two seconds and the race was in the bag.

Mason’s eighth-lap tyre trouble handed second to a delighted Sutton: “In traffic my temperature gauge went right up and I lost power, but I managed to stay with them. But then I spun – the rear just snapped. I managed to save it and caught back up. But I can’t complain. After the last couple of meetings I’ve had, second is a great result for me.”

Walker claimed third, unable to fend off Sutton after the latter’s spin, and had a good battle with Di Resta who, after his startline stall, was like Walker suffering from a lack of straightline speed. “It was hard,” said James. “I had no power down the Kemmel Straight; I was a sitting duck. I’m a bit lucky to get third, really, and I wouldn’t have but for Aaron’s problem.”

Di Resta came home on Walker’s tail for fourth, with Joe Fulbrook making mercurial progress from 14th on the grid to pass Stewart Lines on the penultimate lap and claim fifth, and with it a slender lead in the championship. Lines was not disappointed with sixth, which brings with it pole position for tomorrow’s Spa race.

Scirocco R Cup racer Chris Smiley was seventh, and Team HARD’s leading finisher, on his debut in the championship, with George White scoring a best-yet eighth in his Scirocco ahead of his KPM team-mate Philip Morris, who was delighted with ninth on his return to the championship in his new Golf. Kieran Gallagher continued his recent run of good form with 10th – another personal best – in his Team HARD Golf.

Eleventh-placed Sam Morgan was the luckiest finisher, surviving more or less unscathed a scary lap-one accident at Les Combes. Said Sam: “Cold tyres, started to go sideways down the Kemmel Straight, then I lost the rear end completely at the corner, clipped the barrier and the car went up in the air. People tell me it was quite spectacular. Then I bounced back down on the road and set off again. I think if the barrier had not been so high there I would have ended up in the forest…”

Chris Panayiotou lost time with a second-lap incident and battled back to 12th for Maximum Motorsport, ahead of Tim Snaylam – his best result of the year – Simon Rudd’s Team HARD Golf and David Fairbrother’s Pall-Ex SlideSports Scirocco. After his late pit stop, Mason got back into the race to finish 20th.

Three cars failed to make it – James Greenway’s, which was withdrawn after engine problems in qualifying, Josh Caygill’s, which succumbed to electrical problems, and Darelle Wilson’s self-built TDI Golf, which stopped after a lap.