Wylie in joint championship lead after victory and fourth place on Volkswagen Racing Cup debut
Ross Wylie made a storming start to his 2013 motor racing season by claiming a victory and fourth place on Easter Monday to jointly lead the Volkswagen Racing Cup.
The 21-year-old from Thornhill near Dumfries finished fourth – from sixth on the 24-car grid – in the opening race at Oulton Park – just 6.998secs behind the winner.
But in the second race at the end of the day, Ross started third but stormed to a well-judged 1.8secs victory having led from start to finish in his Slidesports prepared Volkswagen Scirocco.
“It’s a great way to start the season,” confirmed Ross. “I’m not going to get carried away with these two early results but it gives me confidence for the rest of the season which shows that the winter gym work has paid off.
“Finishing fourth in race one was the good, solid start I’d wanted while I was obviously delighted to win the second race.
“I made a good start from third on the grid, was second by the first corner and led by the third corner. I’d pulled out a good lead before backing off to conserve my car only for a late-race Safety Car period to wipe out my lead advantage.
“I told myself to stay calm and concentrated on keeping heat in the tyres and brakes, backed up the following cars at the re-start and was never really challenged.
“The weather was dry but incredibly cold all day which obviously affected the brakes and tyres – especially in qualifying which began at 9.30am. It was the first time I’d ever driven the Scirocco on brand new tyres so I had been pretty happy with a third row start.”
Ross, who was cheered on at Oulton Park in Cheshire by proud parents, Veronica and Brian, plus girlfriend, Suzanne, is also contesting the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and tests his German series VW over 15-16 April.
Wylie starts the next round of the UK series at Rockingham on Bank Holiday Monday (6 May) jointly leading the series by two-points with Martin Depper – a day after making his debut in the R-Cup at Hockenheim in Germany.
Television: Oulton Park races will be shown on 6 April (1930) on Motors TV
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