Pictured: Round 13 start. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 6 OCTOBER 2013

Pictures for download

AARON MASON CLAIMS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE AND HIS FIFTH RACE WIN OF THE SEASON

Aaron Mason today achieved what he has built towards during five seasons of competition – outright victory in the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup. The 34-year-old Doncaster driver claimed the championship title at Donington Park in the finest possible style, with a second-place finish in the first of the day’s races and an emphatic win, his fifth of the season at the wheel of his AWM/Warranty Direct Racing Scirocco R, in the finale.

Mason’s prize is a racer’s dream – a fully funded outing in the final round of the fabulous Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup at Hockenheim in Germany on 19 October.

And Aaron, who began his racing career in the VW Cup in 2009, and who has become the most successful driver in the history of the series with 16 race victories, issued a warning to his rivals: “I’ll be back next year to defend my title.”

He ended his season with 76 more points than his closest rival – team-mate Joe Fulbrook – and with the remarkable record of having only twice failed to make the podium in 14 outings.

“Looking back over my five seasons in the championship, the whole thing has moved on and become a lot more competitive,” said Aaron. “Every year we are all trying twice as hard and bringing developments to the cars: being in the top six is hard and it gets harder every year.

“I think this season has been the hardest of all, but the whole team has done a solid job with the cars – in particular Gary Evans, who is full-time on maintaining them – and we have had our fair share of luck when things have gone a bit bad, like my qualifying accident at Snetterton, which could have written off the weekend for me, but I managed to come back and bag two podiums. We’ve had our fair share of dramas but luckily it hasn’t cost us too much.

“We are going to do another year. This is a great place to race: a well-run championship, and well policed, and the competition is getting better and better so we are able to get some good racing out there. We are still learning with the Scirocco and I’m sure we will move forward. We have a new car underway, and will start again with it and see if we can improve.”

Mason secured the title in Round 13 with second place. He was beaten to the chequered flag by just eight-tenths of a second by Ross Wylie in an accident-strewn event. Mason’s team-mate, former champion Joe Fulbrook, returned to form to claim third place.

Though SlideSports Scirocco driver Wylie was pleased to have won the race and Mason delighted to have clinched the title, the race was a disappointment in terms of spectacle. With a record 31-car field taking part, incidents were always going to be a danger and so it proved, with several cars tangling at the first corner.

Three Golfs ended their races with damage from the incident: those of Jack Walker-Tulley, Craig Milner and car-racing debutant Tommy Hill, the former British Superbike champion. Further around the opening lap, Josh Caygill spun and struck the tyre wall at the Old Hairpin.

Wylie had made a perfect start from the pole to establish command of the race, ahead of Fulbrook, Mason and KPM man Martin Depper, with Mason slipping through past Fulbrook at the Melbourne hairpin for second place before the first lap’s end. Alas the race had then to be neutralised for four laps while stricken cars were removed to safety.

The restarted race was also all too brief: shortly after the green flags were waved, a collision between David Fairbrother’s Scirocco and the Golf of Philip Morris brought out the red flags. “I think Phil had gone off and was rejoining the circuit,” said David, “and I had nowhere to go and hit him square on.” Morris was taken to hospital for checks but allowed to return to the track with three cracked ribs. Said Phil: “The car in front of me lost it into the Old Hairpin and I lost the back of my car as well and did a copycat spin; I came to a halt sideways on, floored it and unfortunately I was straight in David’s flightpath… Luckily my car is left-hand-drive and the impact was on the right side.”

The prematurely halted race was thus declared to have finished after just six laps, with Wylie out in front from Mason and Fulbrook. “I’m happy with that,” said Ross. “It wasn’t the greatest of races for the spectators but I made a good start and was well ahead of the problems. A win is a win and I’ll take it…. We’re finally getting some momentum going after a bit of a bad spell mid-season. But this is a learning year for me, and that sort of thing is part of the apprenticeship.”

Added Aaron: “I didn’t get a bad start but I found that on the warm-up lap the rear tyres were taking their time to get up to temperature so I was a bit cautious to begin with until they came up to strength. The car was well balanced, it was just a shame that the safety car came out when it did.”

Chris Levett scored his best finish of the season with fourth in the JWB Scirocco, ahead of Depper and his team-mate Stewart Lines. Phil House made good opening-lap progress to climb from 10th on the grid to seventh, ahead of the Golfs of David Sutton and Tom Barley, the latter having started 16th in his Team HARD GTI.

Kieran Griffin placed 10th for JWB, with Team HARD season debutants Tony Gilham and Darelle Wilson right behind. The top 15 was completed by Richard Morgan, Kieran Gallagher and a down-on-power Henry Gilbert. In his first-ever race, Matthew Wilson stayed out of trouble to finish 24th in the Complete Racing Golf.

Thankfully the season-closing 14th round, which was screened live across Europe on Motors TV, provided a stunning five-car battle for the lead and action up and down the field to make amends for earlier disappointments.

Mason staged an opening lap reminiscent of Ayrton Senna’s 1993 European Grand Prix feat at Donington, battling through from fifth on the grid to third place by the time the pack had reached the Craner Curves, then lifting second from Fulbrook through Schwantz Curve and the lead from Depper on the inside through Coppice. Laden with the maximum success ballast, Mason’s Scirocco did not however have the pace to open a gap.

That was good news for Depper who, after seeing off a challenge from Fulbrook, outbraked Mason into the Melbourne hairpin to retake the lead on the fourth lap. Mason was unable respond immediately because he was too busy fending off Fulbrook, but that pressure eased next time around when Joe ran wide at the Fogarty Esses and slipped back to fifth, behind Depper, Mason, Wylie and Lines.

Mason found a way back into the lead on lap six at McLeans, only to come under attack from Depper once again at the hairpin. Aaron beat off that assault and, though they ran side by side for much of the remaining six laps, managed to stay ahead of the KPM man to win by less than two-tenths. “Martin and I had a great fight,” said Aaron. “When you have respect for each other you are able to race hard and give each other enough room. It was a brilliant race.”

Agreed Depper: “It was a fantastic pleasure to race Aaron and an honour to be beaten by the 2013 champion.”

Lines stayed ahead of Fulbrook for the duration, and managed to pick off Wylie, who by now was suffering gearbox dramas, to claim third place in the race – his seventh podium of the year – and with it championship third. Fulbrook was fourth at the flag to seal the championship runner-up spot. “I am a bit disappointed because we had the pace to win that race,” said Joe, “but third and fourth is a good end to what hasn’t been a great year for us.” Fulbrook was the only driver to score in every race this season.

After eighth place with his new team AWM/Warranty Direct in race one, David Sutton followed up with a fine fifth, just ahead of the youngest driver in the field, 16-year-old Sam Morgan who, after engine problems denied him a clean race-one run, charged through from 27th on the grid to make the top six for the KPM team.

Wylie limped home, stuck in second gear, in seventh place ahead of Barley and another of the back-of-grid starters, Josh Caygill. House completed the top 10, just ahead of Henry Gilbert’s down-on-power Golf and Griffin’s JWB Scirocco.

After his disappointing early exit from race one, Tommy Hill was delighted with 13th at the flag, from 29th on the grid. “I made it to the end, thankfully,” said the bike ace. “The first race was very frustrating because I wanted to get laps under my belt in it so that I could gain the experience to go for it in race two. In the second race I came through quite well, picked off a few people and really enjoyed it. Big thanks to the JWB team – they have been a great bunch to work with.”

Jack Walker-Tulley took 14th place, ahead of Richard Morgan and Simon Andrews, with the top 20 completed by Craig Milner, Robin Riley, Paul Dehadray and Mark Clynes. Matthew Wilson went one better in his second race, securing 23rd.

Unluckiest driver in the field was Simon Tomlinson, who was on course to maintain his 100 per cent scoring record before crashing on the second lap at the Fogarty Esses. Simon’s AWM Golf skidded on debris strewn over the track by an earlier visitor to the gravel trap.

Further backing for the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup comes from ECM, CEVA, Hankook, Milltek, Paragon and Prestige Performance Centre.