A Look Ahead: Silvertone Showdown for VW Cup Racers

With only four points separating the top two in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup, next Sunday’s (1 June) Silverstone rounds of the championship will be crucial for the leaders – and for those bidding to get on terms with them.

Championship newcomer James Greenway heads the pack to the home of the British Grand Prix for rounds five and six, fresh from scoring his maiden victory at nearby Rockingham at the wheel of his White Rose Volkswagen-backed Scirocco. The 24-year-old took the win after his AWM/Warranty Direct team-mate Aaron Mason faded with a mystery power loss, and David Sutton’s Scirocco suffered a gearbox glitch.

While Mason has yet definitively to trace his problem, Sutton is confident his SlideSports-prepared Volkswagen will be right on the money at Silverstone as he bids to find the points necessary to overhaul Greenway. “We tested at Snetterton this week,” said David, “and the problem with my DSG gearbox is all sorted now, so hopefully at Silverstone we should be there at the front.

“To be honest I can’t really grumble about my weekend at Rockingham – two podiums and we scored more points than anyone and it’s put us in decent shape for the championship. We are definitely pushing for that first win; we were so close at Rockingham, and I definitely have the best team behind me. My team-mate, David Fairbrother, was going like a rocket also – we could have been on for a 1-2.”

Mason is still chasing the root cause of the problem which dropped him to 28th and last in Rockingham race two. “When we fired up the AWM Scirocco after the race it ran perfectly and there were no fault codes,” said the Doncaster driver. “We’ve had it on the rolling road to try to find the problem, and we will be out testing next week to see if we can re-create the fault. If we can’t replicate it we will have to change some suspect components and see what happens.”

As well as enjoying an enormous grid, the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup is proving super-competitive this season. The other podium finishers so far have been double champion Joe Fulbrook in his Golf, JWB Scirocco driver Stefan Di Resta, and Team HARD Golf pilot Tom Barley.

Others knocking on the door of top-three success include Scirocco men Stewart Lines and Josh Caygill, and James Walker, whose Milltek-backed machine is the best-placed Golf GTI in the championship. Walker’s KPM Racing team-mate Lucas Orrock holds a top-10 championship slot also and the duo will be keen to go well at KPM’s home track.

Championship debutant Joe McMillan is hoping to be on the grid with his new Cobra Engineering-prepared Scirocco, joining a 30-car field at Silverstone, where the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup will provide a crowd-pleasing appetite-whetter ahead of the British GT Championship action.

Provisional Standings

1. James Greenway 118 points
2. David Sutton 114
3. Aaron Mason 96
4. Stewart Lines 90
5. Josh Caygill 90
6. James Walker 82
7. Stefan Di Resta 78
8. Lucas Orrock 76
9. Tom Barley 74
10. Joe Fulbrook 74

Timetable

Saturday 31 May 17:00 qualifying

Sunday 1 June 10:35 Race 1 12:55 Race 2

Lap Record

Live Timing

Current Driver Standings