Audi Sport TT Cup racer Josh Caygill delivered a pair of highly competitive performances during the new championship’s inaugural event at a rain-hit Hockenheim over the weekend, 2nd/3rd May, to round-out the first race meeting of the season just outside the coveted top 10 in the points table.
Tantalisingly close to a top 10 race finish in the dry first round on Saturday with 11th place, following a terrific drive through the order, the 25-year-old’s hopes in the wet second encounter on Sunday took a dent when contact cost him the chance of a similarly strong result.
Despite that, Josh was able to display clear pace at the wheel of his striking yellow 310bhp TT Cup car with lap times comparable with the top eight. Indeed, he posted the third fastest first sector in the second race to underline his credentials as a genuine front-running prospect.
“Overall I’m pretty happy with my performance”, said the Netherton driver, “The pace was definitely there in the races, we were quick in both and there are a lot of positives. Unfortunately qualifying didn’t go to plan, but coming through to 11th in race one was good and we could have had a similar result in race two without the contact and a couple of mistakes. All in all, a decent start though.”
Beginning the first ever TT Cup race on Saturday from the 10th row of the grid after a challenging run in the wet qualifying session on Friday, 1st May, Josh made rapid progress from the outset with a very strong drive.
Climbing his way into 16th position over the course of the first three laps, the Briton rapidly reeled in the cars ahead and gained two more places before the end of lap four. Up into 13th place on lap five, Josh then moved into the top 12 on the subsequent tour as he continued to improve his pace.
His next target was guest driver and World Rallycross ace Toomas Heikkinen, who was 1.4 seconds up the road, and Josh rapidly closed down the Finn. Taking 11th on lap nine, he continued to pull away from the mid-pack and remained there to the chequered flag to cap an impressive drive.
On Sunday morning, a damp track surface greeted competitors for round two and at the start a dramatic collision at Turn One resulted in an immediate Safety Car period. Having lined-up 18th on the grid, Josh got away well at the start and smartly avoided the multi-car tangle to move into 14th.
Rising into 13th position on lap three after the re-start, another cautionary period was required on lap five. Racing resumed for the second time on lap eight and Josh was very well placed but after running slightly too deep into the braking zone at the hairpin, he was edged back to 19th place.
With much better pace than those ahead he started to mount a recovery, but after being put wide at the complex Josh was then tapped into a spin which he managed to save – although it did drop him to last. Fighting back into 19th position, he posted a series of personal best times during the closing stages with a quickest lap of 2m04.827 seconds – just half a second shy of podium pace.
“Everything started well in free practice, we had good pace there but the wet qualifying didn’t go quite right so it made race one harder than it should have been”, reflected Josh, “Coming through to 11th though was a good result and we know the pace was there for more as well.
“Race two started well enough but after the Safety Car I made a mistake and lost all the ground I’d gained. After that, though, I was pushed wide again by someone and then got tapped round. I held it but lost a lot of time and dropped to dead last, so any chance of a decent result was gone. The pace was definitely there again, though, which gives us a lot of confidence for the next round.”
Rounds three and four of the Audi Sport TT Cup season will take place over the weekend 27th/28th June at the Norisring street circuit in Germany.
Provisional 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup Driver Standings (after Rd2):11th Josh Caygill, 14pts
