oneighturbo.com

Two superbly exciting Thruxton Volkswagen Racing Cup events brought the Hampshire circuit’s British F3/GT meeting to life today (Sunday) as Golf drivers Jamie Perry and Paul Taylor shared the victory honours. A brace of podium finishes for Bora man Joe Fulbrook ensured his continued hold on the lead on the Hankook-backed championship.

Perry’s first-race victory was not only a tactical masterstroke but also the result of a technical rethink by his team. After Jamie’s Golf broke a driveshaft and cost him victory at Snetterton last time out, Force Ten Motorsport opted to remap the engine and reduce overall power, handing Perry the dual benefits of being able to run at a lower class weight and imposing less strain on the drivetrain.

Jamie’s Keith Garages-backed machine shot from second on the grid past pole-sitter Fulbrook into the first corner, Allard, and quickly built a small lead, but Jamie was careful not to overdo it: ‘I have learned to read Joe’s style,’ said Perry. ‘He was hoping that I would disappear off in front and use my tyres up so that he could catch me at the end, so I knew that I had to be careful to conserve my tyres too.’

A second-lap crash involving three cars brought out the Safety Car for a two-lap spell, which aided Perry’s tyre preservation efforts. The crash came at the Campbell/Cobb/Segrave complex of corners as Martyn Culley’s Beetle, the Golf of James Griffiths, and Auto Express writer Owen Mildenhall, taking a turn at the wheel of the new Jetta TSI Sport, disputed eighth place.

A late-breaking manoeuvre by 18-year-old Griffiths brought him into contact with Culley, who spun through 180 degrees and collided head on with Mildenhall. Both the Beetle and the Jetta were badly damaged; Griffiths was able to continue but he was later excluded from fifth place by stewards for his part in the incident. Culley suffered a bruised shoulder in the impact but there were no other injuries.

The restart brought the expected challenge from Fulbrook. Joe had been happy to hold third behind Perry and Adrian Dziurzynski’s Golf GTI in the early laps but the run up Woodham Hill provided him with the perfect opportunity to move past Dziurzynski and up to second, right on Perry’s tail.

Jamie responded to Joe’s every challenge, without overplaying his hand, until the 12th and penultimate lap, when Fulbrook erred. ‘I was trying really hard,’ said Joe, ‘and then I went wide and right off on to the grass. It was then that I decided that I had better settle for second.’

Fulbrook had also to defend his second place from the increasingly enthusiastic attentions of Steve Chaplin, whose ‘Herbie’-liveried Beetle was on top form. Chaplin lifted fifth from Liam Griffin’s Golf on the second lap, and then fourth when Paul Taylor ran well off the circuit out of Church. His next target was Dziurzynski, who was dispatched within two laps as Chaplin set fastest lap after fastest lap on his way to a new circuit record.

Perry crossed the line for his second win of the season half a second clear of Fulbrook, with Chaplin nine-tenths further back for third place and another podium finish for Herbie. ‘It’s a wonderful feeling,’ said Steve. ‘We’ve done a lot of work to the car and it’s beginning to pay off.’

Dziurzynski lacked the pace to stay with the leading trio but was a long way clear in fourth and happy with his result. Following the exclusion of Griffiths, Mike Kurton was promoted to fifth - turbo problems doing little to hamper the progress of his Golf GTI from 12th on the grid. Relative novice Griffin continued his excellent recent form in the Addison Lee-backed Golf GTI; he was beaten to fifth by Kurton by only half a second.

Peter Wyhinny’s Caddy TDI placed seventh, well ahead of the recovered Taylor, whose sixth-lap off was caused by the sudden loss of an anti-roll bar. ‘Something shifted and I was a passenger at the fastest part of the circuit,’ said Paul. ‘I still don’t know how I avoided hitting anything.’

Barrie Culley’s Vento placed ninth, ahead of James Walker’s TDI Golf, which had had to make a brief pit stop for an ECU reset, the Beetles of Paul Lloyd-Roach (who slowed at the end with a ‘box full of neutrals) and Nick Dunn, and the Europcar Golf of Michael McInerney. John Quartermaine and Giles Lock joined Mildenhall and Martyn Culley in retirement.

Race two was a stunner all the way from the lights to the finish line, with the result in doubt right up to (and including) the final corner and less than half a second covering the top three at the chequered flag in what was the best event of the whole Thruxton meeting.

By dint of his sixth place finish in the first race, Griffin started from the pole. Alas Liam’s first experience of leading from the front was a brief and unhappy one - a shove from the pursuing Taylor, who had made a typically swift getaway from eighth on the grid, sent the Addison Lee car spinning at the complex. Griffin plunged to the back of the field

Taylor, his first-race suspension dramas rectified, found himself well in front after this incident. By the first lap’s end, Paul’s Golf R32 was nearly two-and-a-half seconds clear of Perry, with Dziurzynski holding third from Kurton, Fulbrook, Walker and Chaplin.

It took a charging Perry seven laps to get on terms with Taylor. Fulbrook was right behind him, Joe having passed Kurton and Dziurzynski for third on lap two, and the scene was set for a dramatic final five laps…

On lap eight Fulbrook shattered Chaplin’s lap record and then swept past Perry for second next time around at Brooklands. Joe lowered the lap record yet again on lap 10 but was ambushed by Perry into the Club chicane on the penultimate tour and pushed back to third once more. Taylor’s grip on the lead was looking ever more shaky as Paul battled against not only his two determined rivals but also severe tyre wear.

In the end it came down to a final-tour drag race up Woodham Hill with the three of them arriving abreast at the chicane. Fulbrook took the outside line and looked to have pulled the manoeuvre off as he nipped past his rivals for the lead. But Joe had left his braking a fraction too late, locked up and bounced over the kerbs, allowing Taylor and Perry to regain positions one and two.

‘I just missed my braking point,’ said a far from disappointed Fulbrook. ‘It was a great race, one of the best I have ever had…’ Joe retains the championship lead.

‘It was a superb race,’ agreed Taylor, ‘and it could have gone one of three ways. My tyres were all but used up and I doubt I could have hung on for another lap.’

Taylor, Perry and Fulbrook finished 10 seconds clear of the pack, such was their dominance. Chaplin took fourth, having battled back from seventh past Kurton, Walker and Dziurzynski to take a useful haul of points thanks to playing his ‘Joker’ card.

Dziurzynski held on in front of a determined Walker for fifth, with Griffiths lifting seventh from Kurton and Griffin battling back from the tail end to ninth at the line. Barrie Culley, Lloyd-Roach, Lock, McInerney and Dunn completed the finishers, the latter two drivers enjoying a race-long duel continued from the first event. Wyhinny’s race came to an end after just two laps with a broken driveshaft.

The frenetic summer pace of the championship continues with just a fortnight before the next pair of races, on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.