Steve Chaplin and his 'Herbie' liveried Bettle leads the way as the Volkswagen Racing Cup with Fuchs Lubricants heads to Snetterton on Bank Holiday Monday (30 Aug) for Rounds 19 and 20.
Chaplin leads by 60 points at the top of the standings, picking up six podiums so far this season, including one win. He will be hoping to add to his tally at Snetterton, but may find it difficult, with the track not known as a traditionally Beetle friendly circuit. Since the series began racing there in 2005, a Beetle has never won a race at the track, with Golf's, Vento's and Bora's picking up the wins.
With Golf's seemingly the car to have for Snetterton, those driving them head into the weekend looking favourites to perform well. This group includes Didge Dziurzynski, who won at the track last year and heads into the weekend on the back of a good performance at Silverstone last time out. Another Golf driver coming to the meeting off the back of a good showing at Silverstone is GTI pilot Peter Felix, who won Round 17 to record his second win of the season and will be hoping to add to this at Snetterton. One of the favourites for the weekend has to be Paul Taylor. The Golf R32 driver has won four times at Snetterton in five seasons and comes into the weekend lying joint second in the championship, despite not winning a race so far this season. Other Golf drivers looking for success include Walker siblings James and Daniel in their KPM Racing GTI's and 2010 Race winner Aaron Mason and his AWM team mates Tim Snaylam and Martyn Walsh.
The Racing Cup grid is well known for fielding cars of all shapes and sizes and this is once again on show at Snetterton. As well as Chaplin's Beetle and the fleet of Golf's, there is the Polo of the competitions youngest competitior, 16 year old Zoe Wenham, the Caddy van of Simon Elliot, Micheal McInerney in his Jetta, Mike Kurton and Kieran Griffin in Sciroccos and the SEAT Leon Cupra of SEAT UK boss Peter Wyhinny.
Due to the event falling on the Bank Holiday, grid numbers are down from the 28 that raced at Silverstone, but despite this, fans can look forward to two exciting races as Chaplin looks maintain his advantage at the top of the standings.
The Volkswagen Racing Cup with Fuchs Lubricants is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Ceva Logistics, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Hankook, Milltek Sport, KW Automotive, Superchips and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
Provisional championship standings after Round 8
1 Steve Chaplin Beetle RSI 322
2= Sam Edwards Golf GTI &
Paul Taylor Golf R32 262
4 James Walker Golf GTI 244
5 Peter Felix Golf GTI 234
6 Didge Dziurzynski Golf GTI 226 etc
