Aaron Mason in action at Hockenheim. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 19 OCTOBER 2014

SURPRISE DRIVE FOR MASON NETS FORMER CHAMP STRONG FINISH

Supersub Aaron Mason stormed to a top-15 finish yesterday at Hockenheim in a race he wasn’t supposed to contest. The 2013 Volkswagen Racing Cup Champion stepped up to the plate at the last minute to take over driving duties from this year’s champ, Joe Fulbrook, after a bad back ruled Joe out of the running.

Fulbrook, 43, had been due to contest the final round of the Scirocco R Cup at the German Grand Prix circuit – his reward for clinching outright victory in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup last month.

But Fulbrook arrived in Germany with a tweaked back and did not want to risk further pain. Said Joe: “I’m gutted but I knew from past experience that I would do further damage if I tried to race. My AWM/Warranty Direct team-mate Aaron had come out to Germany with me and he’s the 2013 champion, and he raced there last year himself, so he was the perfect guy to deputise.”

Doncaster-based Mason, 35, was quickly in the groove with the Scirocco, qualifying 16th on the 25-car grid with a best lap time less than a second off that recorded by the Scirocco R Cup Champion, Jordan Lee Pepper.

In the 11-lap race Aaron’s Milltek Sport-liveried Scirocco took 14th place, getting the better of a long battle with championship regular Andre Gies. Said Aaron: “It was good… Unfortunately the guy in front of me was just that little bit quicker than me, but I let him tow me along. I got a good start and then managed to pull a bit of a gap on those behind me, and built on things from there. It was a great experience and all the better for being unexpected; I was only going along for the beer.”

The race – the last in the championship’s history – was won by South African Pepper. Another Brit, Josh Caygill, placed 16th after a race-long duel with Euro-royal Albert von Thurn and Taxis. Twenty-five-year-old Caygill was another AWM/Warranty Direct squad member in the UK championship this season and also contested the full German series. Josh fell foul of officialdom in qualifying and had his best lap time disallowed, so had to start 19th.

The Cup Scirocco was billed as the most eco-friendly racing car in the world: its 2.0-litre TSI engine is powered by natural gas, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent in comparison with conventional fuels. For racing use, the Volkswagen technicians optimised the TSI engine to run on compressed natural gas. The result is 235 bhp and an impressive 275 Nm of torque.