Ross Wylie has got one kind of luck going for him at the moment and that’s “bad”.
For the second consecutive Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup race, the Dumfries youngster was innocently spun out of the race and into retirement.
Racing at the Norisring in Germany for the first time, Wylie started the 22-lap race last Saturday (13 July) an encouraging eighth on the 22-car grid – sixth in the Junior category marking his best start position of the season.
But with under half a lap of the 1.43-mile “street” track completed, Ross had retired his VW Scirocco with suspension damage.
“It wasn’t a great day in the ‘office’,” reflected Ross. “I am certainly not one for giving up but the last two races in the German series have been highly disappointing – especially when my UK campaign is going well.
“I was the innocent victim in both of these accidents, both of which caused me instant retirement, and with it the chance to score vital championship points disappearing – it’s very disheartening.
“But I will pick myself up from this low and work harder and positively over the coming weeks for my next races because I know that when I do finally get a ‘clean’ race, I can be a front runner in this championship.”
Wylie’s latest disappointment drops the Scotsman from fifth in the Junior rankings to eighth but that was not the end of Wylie’s woes.
To compound his frustration, Ross had chosen to contest the Norisring race rather than race in the latest two rounds of the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup staged on the same day.
Physically impossible to compete in Germany and at the Spa-Francorchamps track near Liège in Belgium where the other series Wylie contests was running, Wylie has slipped from second to third in the latest standings – now 90pts behind the series leader.
However Ross will be back in UK series action for rounds 11 & 12 at Brands Hatch on 11 August.
“It was a real shame I had to miss the Spa races but the German series was always going to be my priority in 2013,” said Wylie.
“I’ll just concentrate on trying to win the remaining four UK races and the Championship will sort itself out.
“I haven’t been to Brands Hatch but will test there prior to the races.”
Wylie recently won the second annual ‘Henry Surtees Brooklands Team Challenge’ charity kart event at Mercedes-Benz World in Sussex. Wylie was teamed with David Sutton, Edward Brand and Sennan Fielding.
The two-hour race, staged to raise funds for the Foundation and the Brooklands Museum, was started by John Surtees OBE – the father of Henry who died in a motor race four years ago.
Ross, who attended the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last month, commented: “It was great to jump back into a kart especially as it was for a good cause. Over 30 teams took part so to win was fantastic especially I was racing against some high profile names including Formula One test drivers. As part of our prize for winning, we’ll get the chance to have lunch with Mercedes F1 Team Principal Ross Brawn and tour its team base.”
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* Editorial Copyright Photographs from Charity kart race and Norisring attached