VWR News

VWR Joins DTM!

30 VOLKSWAGENS SET FOR BRANDS BONANZA

A 30-car field is expected at Brands Hatch in a few days when the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup takes to the track for one of its biggest-ever weekends, supporting the world-famous DTM, the German touring car championship.

The attraction of competing on the 1.2-mile Brands Indy circuit at a blue riband race meeting has resulted in a number of old and new faces joining the championship to compete alongside the 25 who started the season last month at Oulton Park.

The already large KPM team is to expand yet further, with classic Ferrari racer James Cartwright set to make his modern saloons debut at the wheel of the ex-Peter Felix Golf GTI. Derbyshire-based 23-year-old James is more used to handling a Ferrari 328 in the Ferrari Formula Classic series, in which he competes alongside his father, classic Ferrari dealer Nick Cartwright, and brother Benjamin. “I bought the Golf for myself,” said Nick, “but I decided that at my age I ought to be encouraging Jamie’s career.”

Truck racing champion Richard Walker, a race winner in a Golf GTI at Brands in 2007, returns to the championship this weekend with KPM, while former motocross racer turned Golf GTI racer Stewart Lines moves across to KPM for Brands Hatch, joining the squad’s championship top-10 men James Walker, Craig Milner, Mike Neuhoff, Philip Morris and Cameron Thompson, as well as series guest driver Peter Wyhinny in his SEAT Leon and ex-Superbike racer David Fairbrother.

Scirocco driver James Walker – Richard’s son – jointly shares the championship lead with AWM Motorsport Golf GTI pilot Aaron Mason. At Oulton Park, Mason won the first of the two wet races, hounded home by the battle-scarred KPM Scirocco of Walker, James having miraculously survived being punted nose-first into the barriers away from the startline. Walker battled back up the field to second and might have challenged Mason for the win but for a slow puncture in the closing laps. Walker got his revenge to win round two, with Mason second to level the points.

“It was a good day at Oulton, in all fairness,” said James. “If I had been driving a Golf I don’t think it would have survived that first-corner incident. I have to thank KPM for building me such a strong car. Now I am really looking forward to Brands Hatch – I’m just excited to be there with the German touring cars; they have some good drivers and some fantastic cars. I’m going to be more of a spectator than a racing driver this weekend, I think.”

In common with many in the field, Walker has limited experience of the Indy circuit at Brands. “I went there five or six years ago with my Caterham and was quickest in practice, but then I wrote it off at the end of the session and didn’t make the race. Hopefully that won’t happen again; I’d like to be up at the front and maybe bag a couple of podium finishes.”

Walker and Mason have clearly established themselves as the drivers to watch in title terms, but there are plenty of other pretenders to the throne. Two of the youngest drivers in the field are 21-year-old Dominic Pettit, who raced to third in round one on his debut in the Vindis-backed Jetta, and 20-year-old Tom Wilson, whose Complete Racing Golf collected a brace of fifth-place finishes.

They are not the youngest men in the field, however – that honour goes to Hainault’s Nikhil Chopra, who celebrates his 17th birthday this weekend. Nikhil’s R32 Golf is prepared in the Dartford workshops of Prestige Performance Centre, with local BTCC hero Tony Gilham overseeing the youngster’s track tuition. Dartford Golf GTI driver Andy Wilmot was another who made his Racing Cup debut at Oulton Park under Gilham’s wing.

Another returnee to the series this weekend is former T-Cars and Formula Palmer Audi star Howard Fuller, who raced to victory on his VW Cup debut at Rockingham in 2010. Fuller will drive a Tony Gilham Racing Golf, as will Richard Kingsnorth.

Oulton’s other podium finisher was Joe Fulbrook, the 2008 and ’09 champion, whose Warranty Direct-backed Bora Turbo, now one of the oldest cars on the grid, proved it still has the legs to keep up with the newcomers.

The championship’s paddock camaraderie attracts a wide cross-section of competitors; a trend in recent seasons has been the arrival of a number of former bike racers keen to maintain a competitive edge. These include Lines, who competed at Grand Prix and European Championship level in motocross; ex-Superbike star Fairbrother; ex-racer and West Sussex-based motorcycle dealer Richard Morgan; and Milner, who was a bike-racing champion in the 1990s. There is a famous truck racer on the grid also in the shape of Golf GTI racer Chris Levett.

The championship nurtures novices, too: Simon Andrews and Morris started their track careers in the series in 2010 and, despite both men being disabled, have flourished. Morris holds seventh in the championship currently, just ahead of Wilmot, Pettit and Thompson. This year’s crop of racing novices include Jonathan (father of Tom) Wilson, Chopra, Paul Dehadray and Simon Tomlinson.

Diversity of model is another facet of the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup. Joining the prolific Golf GTI Mk Vs this season is a MK VI for former champion Neuhoff, Sciroccos for Walker, Milner, Kieran Griffin (who won at Brands last season) and Wilson Snr. There are Beetles seen in the hands of Tony Harberman, Robin Riley and Andrew Smith, not forgetting Pettit’s Jetta and Wyhinny’s Leon, and the SlideSports Golf GTI of Mark Clynes.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup, whose title backer for 2012 is US Volkswagen group tuning giant APR, features 14 rounds over seven meetings, one of them at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The series enjoys additional support from Ceva, ECM, Eibach, Hankook, Milltek Sport and Paragon.

Provisional championship standings
1=  Aaron Mason / Golf GTI  86 points
1=  James Walker / Scirocco R  86
3=  Joe Fulbrook / Bora 1.8T  72
3=  Tom Wilson / Golf GTI  72
5=  Craig Milner / Scirocco R  60
5=  Richard Morgan / Golf GTI  60
7=  Mike Neuhoff / Golf GTI  56
7=  Philip Morris / Golf GTI  56
9  Andy Wilmot / Golf GTI  52
10=  Dominic Pettit / Jetta Sport  38
10=  Cameron Thompson / Golf GTI  38 etc

APR Volkswagen Racing Cup

MASON, WALKER SHARE OULTON WINS AND SERIES LEAD

A brace of dramatic opening rounds at Oulton Park – contested by a field of 25 cars – kicked off the new season of the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup in style at Oulton Park.

Despite the worst the Easter Bank Holiday Monday weather could throw at proceedings, both races were incident-packed thrillers. Aaron Mason and James Walker shared the spoils and leave Cheshire in joint possession of the championship lead.

A dramatic first-corner clash, which involved both pole man Mason and Walker, and several others, marred the start of Round 1. It was triggered when Cambridgeshire youngster Dominic Pettit made a slightly better getaway from second on the grid in his Vindis-backed Jetta to overhaul the AWM Golf GTI of Doncaster driver Mason on the run towards Old Hall. Mason and Pettit made contact, and then Mason and Walker were in collision, Nottinghamshire driver James then clouting the barriers in his new KPM Scirocco.

Amazingly Walker bounced off the barriers and back on to the track, pointing more or less in the right direction, and was able to get going again in seventh. Alas his return to the track triggered a chain reaction which saw the Golf of 16-year-old Nikhil Chopra and the Scirocco of Kieran Griffin in collision. Chopra was able to get going again but Griffin’s race ended against the barriers, with the safety car called into play while the debris was cleared.

Undeterred by the bumps and bruises, Mason regained the lead from Pettit on the opening lap, before the safety car started its three-lap procession period. Mason looked in no danger of losing his advantage after the restart until a fired-up Walker and his battle-scarred Cooke and Mason-backed Scirocco appeared in his mirrors on lap five, James having battled past Joe Fulbrook’s Bora, Peter Wyhinny’s Leon and Pettit on the way through to second.

James and his KPM-prepared machine hunted down Mason until two laps from the end, when a slow puncture slowed his progress. Aaron was 10s clear at the flag, and said: “It was a bit of a rough start – I got squeezed a bit by both James and Dominic – but it was OK after that until James came back at me a bit strong.”

Walker added: “I made a fairly decent start and was carrying on in a straight line, and then the next thing I know I am heading towards the barriers. I managed to get going again and just kept pushing until the tyre started to go down. I can’t complain – second is a good result for the opening round.”

Pettit came under heavy pressure in the late stages from his KPM running mate Wyhinny, the latter making a strong return to racing after 10 months away. Dominic was just a tenth clear of the SEAT UK boss at the line.

Last season’s top rookie, Tom Wilson, was an encouraging fifth in his Complete Racing Golf (with his racing novice dad, Jonathan, claiming 19th on his track debut), with Fulbrook sixth with handling woes.

Mike Neuhoff, the 2001 champion, showed few signs of rustiness, qualifying his KPM Mk VI Golf seventh and battling back to that position after slipping to 10th on the opening lap, claiming fastest lap along the way. Craig Milner’s new Scirocco carried him to eighth, ahead of championship newcomer Andy Wilmot and fellow Golf men Richard Morgan, Philip Morris and Cameron Thompson.

There were good drives from several racing rookies in addition to Jonathan Wilson: Paul Dehadray placed 13th, one spot ahead of ex-Superbike racer David Fairbrother, with Simon Tomlinson 20th and Chopra 21st.

Round 2 was no less dramatic, with Pettit making an extraordinary start from fourth on the grid to drive around the outside of everyone into Old Hall to nose his Jetta ahead. Dominic’s glory was shortlived, however: Mason demoted him to second before the lap’s end and then Pettit slithered into the Shell Oils Corner gravel trap on lap two.

A brief safety car period allowed Walker’s Scirocco, well patched up between races, to pounce at the restart and demote Fulbrook from second. A string of fastest laps from James brought him close to leader Mason, and he made his move for the lead on the seventh lap at the Shell hairpin, Aaron having to give best to his rival: “James had better pace in that race,” he said, “perhaps because I used the same wet tyres all day – a new set might have helped. However, overall it’s been a good day and I’m not disappointed.”

“That was a really good, clean race,” said Walker. “I had a good battle with Aaron and managed to find a way past at Shell. A first and a second from the opening weekend of the season is a great result and I’m very pleased.”

Like Pettit in race one, third-placed Fulbrook felt heavy late-race pressure from determined SEAT driver Wyhinny: “I saw him coming but managed to stay ahead, just,” said Joe. “Peter drove very well, all credit to him. My old car is showing its age a bit now and we have struggled with the set-up today; some changes we made worked and some didn’t.”

As in race one Wyhinny was followed to the flag by Wilson Jnr, with Morgan sixth to record his best-yet result in the championship. Morris’s seventh was a personal best also, the FUCHS Lubricants-backed driver racing home ahead of Milner and Griffin, whose heavily repaired SlideSports Scirocco had had to start from the back of the grid. Truck racer Chris Levett took 10th ahead of Wilmot, Neuhoff, championship returnee Richard Kingsnorth and the Beetle of Tony Harberman who, like Levett, had started from the back after a first-race off.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup – whose new title backer for 2012 is US Volkswagen group tuning giant APR – features 14 rounds over seven meetings, one of them at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The series enjoys additional support from Ceva, ECM, Eibach, Hankook, Milltek Sport and Paragon.

Images for download flickr.com/photos/imagevaults/sets/72157629415071034/

Provisional results
APR Volkswagen Racing Cup
Round 1 (of 14)
Oulton Park 9 April 2012  9 laps = 24.23 miles
Pos  Driver  Home  Car  Time
1  Aaron MASON  Doncaster  Golf GTI  20m 58.879s / 69.28mph
2  James WALKER  Normanton  Scirocco R  +10.167s
3  Dominic PETTIT  Milton  Jetta Sport  +10.585s
4  Peter WYHINNY  Solihull  SEAT Leon Cupra  +10.746s
5  Thomas WILSON  Castle Combe  Golf GTI  +16.867s
6  Joe FULBROOK  Maidenhead  Bora  +17.386s
7  Mike NEUHOFF  Helmdon  Golf GTI  +22.353s
8  Craig MILNER  Matlock  Scirocco R  +36.824s
9  Andy WILMOT  Dartford  Golf GTI  +42.154s
10 Richard MORGAN  Chichester  Golf GTI  +47.975s
Fastest lap Neuhoff 2m 08.602s / 75.35mph

Round 2, 9 laps = 24.23 miles
1  WALKER  20m 39.204s / 70.38mph
2  MASON  +1.205s
3  FULBROOK  +20.096s
4  WYHINNY  +20.584s
5  WILSON  +24.355s
6  MORGAN  +28.188s
7  Philip MORRIS  Congleton  Golf GTI  +31.819s
8  MILNER  +32.538s
9  Kieran GRIFFIN  Essendon  Scirocco R  +33.183s
10 Chris LEVETT  Bromsgrove  Golf GTI  +35.914s
Fastest lap Walker 2m 04.665s / 77.73mph

Full TSL results sheetshttp://bit.ly/f3_opk
On TV 28 April Motors TV 1025

Provisional championship standings
=1 Mason & Walker 86 points; =3 Fulbrook & Wilson 72; =5 Milner & Morgan 60; =7 Neuhoff & Morris 56; 9 Wilmot 52; =10 Pettit & Cameron Thompson 38 etc.

Next rounds 19/20 May Brands Hatch

Sébastien Ogier and Carlos Sainz test Polo R WRC in Spain

Acid test for the new Polo R WRC: Volkswagen factory driver Sébastien Ogier and the former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz put the Polo for the World Rally Championship (WRC) to a tough test in Spain. The two rally aces – Ogier is seen by many experts as future world rally champion, Sainz, with two title wins and 26 rally victories is one of the most successful drivers in WRC history – covered around 700 kilometres, equating to about twice the distance of a WRC rally, without any problem in order to take new vehicle components to their stress and load limits and to thus gather important findings for the further development. Volkswagen will be making its debut in the World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC in 2013 and is running an extensive testing and development programme until then.

“Around 70 per cent of the WRC consists of gravel tracks, about 20 per cent of asphalt and roughly 10 per cent of ice and snow. The gravel test in Spain served to simulate the roughest WRC sections and to take the car to its load and stress limits. Particularly chassis components such as the hub carriers, dampers and suspension components were successfully tested in the limit range,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.

“Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Ogier are working together extremely well – the two are forming a very good combination. They respect each other without any rivalry and are purposefully driving the project forwards. Our next step will be to run further tests on tarmac in order to complete our specifications book and to then check off each item on the list.”

On narrow, winding gravel tracks near Almería in the south of Spain Sébastien Ogier together with co-driver Julien Ingrassia (F) were initially in the cockpit of the near-300-HP Polo R WRC. “For us, it was mainly about driving this car on as many kilometres as possible on very hard ground. In parallel, we made a few minor changes to the setup in order to pick up speed step by step,” explained 28-year-old Ogier. On the third day, Carlos Sainz shortly sat in the co-driver’s seat. “Of course that was a surprise – ten years ago, I dreamt that it would be exactly the other way around,” said Ogier with a grin. “But seriously, his experience and his input are extremely valuable to us.” Sainz, who drove his last WRC rally in 2005, then switched to Volkswagen and won the 2010 Dakar Rally in the Race-Touareg, wanted to gain an impression of the handling characteristics of the newly developed all-wheel vehicle on gravel this way and to acquire the necessary driving style.

“During my active days I drove thousands of test kilometres and hope to be able to support Volkswagen with my experience,” said the 49-year-old Spaniard who subsequently took the wheel himself and was navigated by Timo Gottschalk. “I have a lot of confidence in the squad and the Polo R WRC will no doubt be a big hit. But we mustn’t forget that 2013 will be the Polo’s first year in the WRC whereas the competition will have been active there for many years,” said Sainz.

Volkswagen Star Ogier is Champion of Champions!

Sébastien Ogier, who will contest the WRC from 2013 for Volkswagen, demonstrated his outstanding driving abilities during the live broadcast on SAT.1 and inspired around 40,000 enthusiastic spectators in the Arena in Düsseldorf. During the competition staged between the world’s best drivers, Volkswagen’s new rally star was the fastest in the field comprised of Formula 1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button as well as DTM Champions Martin Tomczyk, Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström and other motorsport greats. Among the race cars used for the Race Of Champions were the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, Audi R8 LMS and the rally Skoda Fabia S2000.
 
Sébastien Ogier: “My first outing in Volkswagen overalls and this in Germany and then victory in the Race Of Champions – I’m absolutely delighted. They were exciting races against fantastic opponents. It’s not easy for a newcomer to master the many different cars and the track, but I had a good feeling from the word go. It was a great honour for me to be invited for the first time to participate in the Race Of Champions. My thanks also go to the fans that made the atmosphere electric.” Even the beaten Kristensen admitted afterwards: “Sébastien really impressed me and he certainly has a big future ahead of him in rallying with Volkswagen.”
 
“The entire Volkswagen team is proud of our new Champion and is delighted with Sébastien about this magnificent win. It’s obviously fantastic that Ogier has won the first prestigious title for Volkswagen only two weeks after his signing. And this against a line-up of such high quality,” praised Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.

Best-Ever Calendar for 2012 Volkswagen Racing Cup

Twin races at the exciting Belgian Grand Prix circuit of Spa-Francorchamps have been added to the Volkswagen Racing Cup calendar for the forthcoming season.

The championship has been invited to make its first visit to Spa by Volkswagen Belgium, sponsor of the annual 25-hour Fun Cup race which will headline the 6/7 July event. The addition of the two Belgian races completes the provisional calendar for the 2012 Volkswagen Racing Cup, which will comprise 14 races spread over seven meetings.

Championship manager Sam Roach of Volkswagen Racing UK says the Spa races will be popular: “The Volkswagen Racing Cup competitors thoroughly enjoyed their first overseas visits in 2010 and ’11, to Zandvoort, and I know that they will be blown away by the opportunity to compete at the best circuit in the world at what will be a large and popular event. It’s great news and a real honour for the championship to have been invited.”

The championship’s six other meetings offer the cream of UK race dates – a supporting slot alongside the German touring cars at Brands Hatch in May as well as British F3 and GT dates at Oulton Park, Rockingham, Snetterton, Donington and on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.