Volkswagen Racing Cup: technical problems mar Polo racers at Zandvoort
Rounds three and four of UK circuit series the Volkswagen Racing Cup were played out at Zandvoort over the weekend of 22 and 23 May. The championship’s first-ever overseas rounds, 23 racing Volkswagens of all shapes and sizes took to the Dutch seaside circuit, with two Polos mixing things up. Zoë Wenham, the Volkswagen Racing Cup’s youngest ever competitor at just 16, delivered a good account of herself on her championship debut. But, a highly unfortunate driveshaft failure – which was later followed by a problem with the turbo on her Polo GTI – meant a retirement from race one and subsequently prevented her from taking to the grid for race two.
The pair of Polos started at the back of the grid for both races, Wenham posting a 2:10.216-minute lap time equalling a 20th place on the grid, while Reigate’s Darren Blumson in the Adrenaline Motorsport Polo GTI recorded a 2:13.872, positioning him two cars further back. Zoë’s driveshaft failure meant she retired after 8 laps, while problems with Blumson’s car led him to finish only 6 laps out of the total 13. The silver Adrenaline Motorsport car started from 20th place on row 10 in race 2, but retired again, this time after 8 laps.
Similar to Blumson’s car, Wenham’s white 1.8-litre Polo GTI is also turbocharged, but prepared by KPM Racing, the team headed by ex-Honda F1 technician Kevin Poole. Speaking before Saturday’s race, Wenham said: ‘I’ve given the Polo a shakedown at Silverstone and I have a day planned at Rockingham, but other than that I have no experience of the car. It’s going to be a big step up for me.’ With extensive karting experience, Wenham has raced for two years in the junior SaxMax series, finishing the championship ninth overall in 2009. She hopes to her experience in the Volkswagen Racing Cup will enable her to graduate to touring cars.
The Volkswagen Racing Cup 2010 with Fuchs Lubricants is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Ceva Logistics, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Hankook, Milltek Sport, KW Automotive, Superchips and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
[Images: Chris Schotanus/www.imagevaults.co.uk]
