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With two wins apiece for Joe Fulbrook, Jamie Perry and Paul Taylor, the Volkswagen Racing Cup in association with Hankook is as close this season as it’s ever been and Brands Hatch, the venue for the 12/13 July rounds of the championship, always brings out the best - and sometimes the worst - in the competitors.

One of last year’s races was marred by a multi-car collision at Paddock Hill Bend on the opening lap - an accident which halted both Fulbrook and Taylor and which badly damaged both men’s title hopes, so Bora man Joe and Golf R32 pilot Paul will be keen not to fall into that trap again.

Fulbrook’s 86-point championship lead comes courtesy of his twin wins at Snetterton last month, four further podium finishes, and judicious use of his points-doubling ‘Joker’ card. Beetle driver Steve Chaplin, second overall in the standings, is another to have played his Joker, but Taylor and Perry still have their Jokers up their sleeves.

Brands Hatch is one of the few circuits where 2006 champion Taylor has yet to take a win, though his Golf was triumphant there in 2005 when piloted by Shaun Hollamby. Perry, from Castle Hedingham in Essex, claimed his maiden Racing Cup victory at Brands in 2007 and has gone on this season to win at Rockingham and Thruxton in his new Golf GTI.

The season’s other race winners are Steve Wood, whose Golf GTI won the opener at Oulton Park but who has been forced to miss the last two meetings with mechanical problems, and James Walker, son of ‘07 Brands Hatch victor Richard, whose Golf is the fastest of the turbodiesel brigade.

There have been several other podium finishers during 2008, notably Peter Wyhinny in the always-amazing Caddy TDI, the fastest delivery van in the west, Steve Chaplin in the ever-improving ‘Herbie’ Beetle, and Adrian ‘Didge’ Dziurzynski, who pilots the oldest car in the field, a Mk II Golf GTI, and who ought to show strong pace.

The other top-10 championship runners are the super-consistent Mike Kurton with his Golf GTI and Beetle man Nick Dunn, and ‘Classic Caddy’ pilot Giles Lock. Liam Griffin won’t be in action - he’s handing his Addison Lee Golf GTI over to his elder brother, Kieran, for the weekend.

Richard Kingsnorth is expected to be making his seasonal debut: the Essex driver, a Golf TDI pilot last year, has taken over the DSG gearbox-equipped Golf R32 last raced by Graham Needham.”