Netherton racer Josh Caygill had a very challenging visit to the Oschersleben circuit in a rain-hit second meeting in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup series.
Making his first competitive visit to the 2.3-mile German track, the 24-year-old knew the event would be another significant learning curve but he had hoped for more from the first race when a potential top 10 finish, from 18th on the grid, went awry.
Contact with a rival driver led to a puncture late in the race, but Caygill still managed to coax his 2.0-litre, natural gas-powered Scirocco to the flag to post an 18th place finish.
Just prior to the start of the second race, rainfall led the championship organisers to elect to begin the encounter behind the Safety Car.
As the conditions worsened, a decision was then taken to red flag proceedings to enable all of the drivers to fit treaded Dunlop tyres.
When the race resumed, still behind the Safety Car, Caygill held 19th position but when the action proper began he made swift progress and by the fifth racing lap he was into the top 15. Although elbowed back one place a few laps from the end, Caygill was pleased with his pace.
“It’s been another big learning meeting for me”, said Caygill. “We struggled a bit in qualifying, I only got about four good laps, so we ended up down in 18th for the first race which wasn’t what we had hoped for.
“We’re up against a lot of really experienced drivers and they’ve got good knowledge of the European circuits. We’ll definitely be stronger as the season progresses and we’ve certainly gained some important experience this weekend.”
“I worked hard trying to get through the field in race two and we were definitely happy to get another finish after, what was, a very eventful meeting”.
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