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In March we saw the first round of the Volkswagen Racing Cup take place. Almost two months later (May 26th), we had Round 3-4 taking place. Talk about getting the withdrawl shakes!

James Walker in his Golf TDI

Mark down another first for the TDI engine. James Walker took his Golf TDI to the winners circle in the first race (Round 3). In Round 4, we saw Peter Wyhinny takes his Caddy TDI to a second place!

Another two names were added to the Volkswagen Racing Cup 2008 winner list today (Monday), with Golf drivers James Walker and Jamie Perry claiming a victory apiece at Rockingham Motor Speedway on a day beset by changeable weather and tricky tyre choices.

Walker’s win in his Golf TDI - the first for a turbodiesel in the Hankook-backed championship since 2006 - promotes the Nottinghamshire youngster to the top of the points standings. Less than 20 points covers the championship top four in what is proving to be a highly unpredictable and competitive season.

Heavy rain blighted Sunday’s qualifying session but played right into the hands of the Dziurzynski brothers, who laid claim to the front row of the grid with a virtuoso performance in the atrocious conditions. Younger sibling Adrian and his Golf GTI took the pole with a time a tenth better than that of Alex’s Corrado. Third fastest time went to Paul Taylor and his R32 Golf, more than 1.7s adrift.

A wet but drying track and a cloudy, threatening sky presented the field with a tyre choice dilemma on Monday morning. The brothers Dziurzynski called it wrong and opted for wet Hankooks, while Taylor and others gambled correctly on slicks. Oulton Park race victor Paul took command of the race through Turn 1 and was quick to build a healthy lead as the Dziurzynskis faded.

Adrian’s Golf held on in second for four laps; it was not his tyres which ended his run, in fact, but engine problems. He ceded second to Perry on lap five (of 13), Jamie enjoying a superb run in his Keith Garages-backed Force 10 Golf GTI after starting from 16th. Tenth by the end of the opening lap, Perry’s slick-shod machine made further gains on each successive lap.

Perry had James Walker right in his wheeltracks, and their battle for second became a tussle for the lead with three laps to go when Taylor slipped back and into their clutches as the result of a slowly deflating front tyre. Walker first found a way past his more experienced rival Perry at the Tarzan hairpin on lap seven, then missed a gear and was repassed before finally managing to make the move stick two laps later.

Walker - who was contesting only his third saloon car race - took his Chek Whyte Industries-backed Golf to a 2.1s victory and was delighted: ‘My tyres came in perfectly after about three laps and then it was a great fight with Jamie… I’m really pleased.’

Third and fourth went respectively to Joe Fulbrook (Bora) and Martyn Culley (Vento VR6), both of whom had started from the back. They fought tooth and nail with each other, and with Peter Whyinny’s Caddy TDI, throughout the closing laps. Wyhinny’s hopes of taking fourth ended at the Brook chicane on the final lap when Culley biffed the van out of his way, but despite a subsequent stall SEAT boss Peter managed to recover in time to claim fifth.

James Walker’s father, Richard, had looked a safe bet for at least third place in his V6 Golf until engine gremlins set in towards the end; he hung on to take sixth ahead of promising 17-year-old James Griffiths, who was having his maiden outing at the wheel of his new Golf GTI. Nick Dunn picked his way through the field to take eighth (from 21st on the grid) in his Beetle, with Taylor limping home ninth ahead of the Golfs of John Quartermaine and Mike Kurton. Sam Maher-Loughnan’s hobbling wet-tyred Polo placed 12th.

It was wetter on Monday afternoon for the second race - perfect weather for Hankook wets, in fact. Problem was, there were those on the grid who opted for slicks or a slick/wet combination, like Taylor, who rocketed off row five to take the lead into Turn 1.

Perry meanwhile, with a full set of wets on board, shot away from the third row similarly quickly to take away top spot from Taylor into the second corner, the Deene hairpin. It was a masterly manoeuvre from Jamie, who went on to make the best of his tyres while he could, in the early laps, to build a lead of in excess of 12 seconds.

Taylor soon found he couldn’t make his tyre combination work and slid back down the order as the wet-tyred cars, notably those of Fulbrook, Wyhinny and Alex Dziurzynski, came to the fore. This trio kept the bedraggled spectators on their toes for lap after lap as they swapped places, with Wyhinny driving like a man possessed as he fought to thrust the Caddy between the Bora and Corrado. Peter made it up to second on the seventh lap and then banged in fastest lap after fastest lap, sensing that Perry’s lead was there to be demolished.

Jamie knew he was in trouble: ‘The tyre choice was a really tough call. I went for full wets and they were great early on but I knew they wouldn’t last. It was really scary seeing the van bearing down on me…’

The Caddy latched on to the Golf’s tail entering the final lap and Wyhinny tried everything to find a way past. Perry had just enough grip left in his tyres to hang on for victory by four-tenths, however. Wyhinny was far from downcast at having achieved the Caddy’s best-ever finish: ‘That was the best time of my life,’ he said, ‘completely exhilarating.’

Alex Dziurzynski made up for his first-race disappointment with third place, and Fulbrook snatched back fourth from James Walker on the final lap. Kurton placed sixth ahead of Griffiths, Taylor, Maher-Loughnan, Paul Lloyd-Roach’s Beetle, Quartermaine and Dunn. Car magazine journalist Ben Barry, who spun out of his race debut earlier in the day, placed 16th in the Europcar Golf GTI.

There’s less than a fortnight before the championship contenders have again to be battle-ready: rounds five and six of the 14-race series take place at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk over the weekend of 7/8 June.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup in association with Hankook is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Castrol, Ceva Logistics, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Milltek Sport, Mondial Assistance, KW Automotive, Superchips, Turbo Dynamics, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Financial Services UK.”