Pictured: Champion Joe Fulbrook. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2014

BARRABLE WINS THE FINALE, FULBROOK THE CHAMPIONSHIP

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Joe Fulbrook emerged from the chaos of a dramatic final round of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup season at Donington Park this afternoon to claim championship victory – his third title win in seven seasons. Third place in the last race of the year was enough to clinch the crown by just six points for the Berkshire-based 43-year-old and his AWM/Warranty Direct team.

The outcome of the championship hung in the balance all the way to the final corner of the race as KPM Racing driver Lucas Orrock battled with the cars of Irish rally star Robert Barrable and David Sutton to take the win; a collision between the three led to a lengthy inquiry by race officials, with Barrable eventually credited with victory. Had the stewards’ decision gone in Orrock’s favour and had Fulbrook finished just one place further back, the crown would have gone Lucas’s way…

“I don’t think you’re ever going to get a closer end to a championship,” said triple titlist Fulbrook. “Fair play to Lucas, he’s a great driver, and thanks to all my boys for looking after the car for me. This is our third championship win together and we’ve tried really hard, and battled back from some bad luck on occasions. Big thanks to them… Happy days.”

There was drama from first to last in round 14, with the race having to be halted before the leaders had completed their second lap by a multi-car accident at the Goddards hairpin which left the Sciroccos of David Fairbrother and Andy Wilmot badly damaged and stranded partly on the track; neither driver was injured in the crash. Earlier, Aaron Mason and Sutton had come together at the same corner as they disputed the lead, an incident which would have post-race ramifications.

One man was at least pleased to see the red flags – pole-sitter Stefan Di Resta, who stalled on the line and got away dead last. He was able to retake the pole for the restart but, incredibly, he bogged down again and was swamped by the field. “The first time I thought it was me, but then it happened again – we think it was a clutch problem,” said Stefan.

Sutton blasted through from fourth on the grid to take the lead on the opening lap for the SlideSports team, pursued by Orrock, Fulbrook, James Greenway and Barrable. Mason, the front of his Scirocco badly damaged by the incident with Sutton, completed the opening lap eighth, with Di Resta down in 18th.

Greenway pushed Fulbrook back to fourth on the second lap and then, a lap later, Barrable demoted Joe to fifth. Then the rally man set about the task of finding a way past Greenway for a top-three slot, achieving the feat on lap four to set up an exciting battle to the flag to decide the podium placings.

Sutton soon saw his one-second lead evaporate and then, slowed by the need to pass some back markers, found his pursuers right on him on the final lap… The Melbourne Hairpin was to decide the order in which they crossed the line: as Orrock attacked Sutton for the lead, Barrable attacked Orrock – all three cars were in contact and out of the hairpin to cross the finish line came Barrable, Orrock and Sutton in that order.

“The two lads in front went defensive on the inside into the hairpin and I went to the outside to get the cut back,” said Barrable, “they stopped and I clipped the back of Orrock’s car, and that opened up a bit of a gap for me to make a clean break in the front.”

Lucas had a different viewpoint: “David was compromised by a slower-moving car on the last lap so I got a bit of a run on him into the hairpin. It was going to be a risky move but my plan was to line it up on the brakes and to try to get a cut-back; sure enough David started to go a little deep into the corner but as that was happening I received an almighty whack from behind, which sent me into the side of David’s car. We were all tangled up and it’s not really the way I wanted to end the race.”

After the podium celebrations Barrable was handed a three-second penalty for driving in a manner incompatible with general safety, promoting Orrock to the top step of the podium. Barrable’s THM Racing team appealed the decision, however, and race stewards later struck the penalty and returned the win to Robert.

Notwithstanding the outcome of the inquiries, Orrock’s strong finish underlined what has been a great rookie season of car-racing for the 23-year-old from Cambridge, who takes a close championship second to Fulbrook. “Given that it’s my first year, I’m very pleased,” said Lucas.

There was a further penalty issued by the officials – a 13-second one given to Sutton for his early-race clash with Mason. This had the effect of dropping David to 10th, one place behind Aaron, whose race was hindered by the damage suffered in the collision.

Sutton’s penalty meant that Fulbrook, who crossed the line a lonely fourth after he repassed Greenway, was promoted to third, rounding his stellar season off with a further podium finish; Joe’s tally for the year was two wins, two seconds and two thirds.

Almost unnoticed in the excitement was Jack Walker-Tully’s brilliant progress from the back of the grid in the Cooke and Mason Scirocco. Jack made it up to 14th on the opening lap and gained places with every lap which followed to make it up to fourth, breaking his own day-old lap record as he progressed. Howard Fuller equalled his best finish of the year for Team HARD with fifth, ahead of Greenway and James Walker in the KPM/Milltek Sport Scirocco.

After his startline woes, Di Resta did well to claw his way back to eighth by the end, one place ahead of Mason’s hobbled AWM car. Sutton was classified 10th, with Darelle Wilson claiming 11th in the Team HARD TDI Golf. Both Josh Caygill and Sam Morgan had looked to be heading towards top-10 finishes before they tangled in avoidance of a wayward backmarker on the penultimate lap and their races ended in the Coppice corner gravel trap.

Tim Snaylam rounded off his comeback season with his best result of the year for the AWM squad, 12th, ahead of Stewart Lines and Joe McMillan, both of whose Sciroccos were sporting damage from the first-lap shenanigans of the aborted race. Kieran Gallagher took 15th spot for Team HARD and Paul Dehadray equalled his season’s best with 16th for JWB. Simon Deaton, Tom Barley, Simon Rudd and Robin Riley rounded out the top 20, with Cameron Thompson and Paul Inglis the final finishers.