Netherton racing driver Josh Caygill produced the best result of his maiden season in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup at the Norisring street circuit in Germany.
The 24-year-old bagged a deserved top 10 finish after qualifying in a season-best 13th fastest for round five of the pan-European campaign.
Caygill made tremendous progress and challenged for seventh position before having to settle for 10th place.
“I’m really happy with the meeting overall, qualifying went well and the race was really good – it’s nice to feel you’re there or thereabouts”, said Caygill.
“I think we had the fourth or fifth quickest lap in the end, it’s a shame there weren’t two races like there normally are!”
Arriving at the Nuremberg street circuit fresh from the UK Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup the previous week at Snetterton in Norfolk where he achieved a brace of top sixes, Caygill was rapid from the outset.
Making a terrific start to the race, Caygill sliced his way through from the seventh row of the grid into the top 10 on lap one before grabbing ninth position on the second tour.
No sooner had he claimed the place, than red flags were shown following an accident involving French driver Yann Ehrlacher.
Essential repairs to the trackside barriers meant a lengthy delay of 90 minutes before round five could be re-started and when the action got back underway, it began behind the Safety Car.
When the Safety Car pitted and full-speed racing resumed, Caygill held ninth until lap 11 when he moved into eighth at the expense of Lucile Cypriano and he then set about challenging Chris Smiley for seventh position.
First attacking Smiley on lap 15, Caygill slotted back into eighth and then tried to pass his rival into the hairpin on the next lap.
As he braked, though, the permanent white road markings of the street circuit triggered the ABS system on his Scirocco and forced the car to run slightly too deep, slipping back to 10th place.
“I got a good start in the first one, we were as fast as anyone for the first two or three laps but then the red flags came out”, said Caygill.
“When we eventually did re-start it was good, I got up to eighth after a few laps and then passed Chris Smiley for seventh into the hairpin.
“As it’s a street circuit though, you’ve got white painted lines on the racing line and as soon as I touched one the ABS kicked in which made me miss the apex.
“Two others managed to get by as well so we dropped back to 10th, which was a bit of a shame, but it’s still my best result of the season in a very competitive championship.”
There is now a five week break in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup calendar with rounds six and seven set to take place August 2-3 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Caygill will be back in action in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup with rounds nine and 10 of its season set to take place on Saturday, July 12, at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
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