Josh Caygill served up a truly remarkable performance in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup at Rockingham in Northamptonshire on Bank Holiday Monday, 5th May, to come within mere metres of securing his maiden car racing podium – despite missing practice and qualifying.Going straight into the day’s two races after a lengthy overnight journey from Hockenheim in Germany, where he competed on Saturday, 3rd May, and Sunday, 4th May, in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup, the Netherton driver stunned the VW Cup paddock with a supreme showing.Beginning the first Rockingham race from 29th on the grid, due to missing qualifying, Caygill made a sensational start to move into 21st position and by lap six he was into the top 15. Making outstanding progress, the 24-year-old AWM driver sliced his way into 12th place by lap nine and heading into the penultimate lap he was inside the top eight.Circulating with pace matching eventual race winner and AWM team principal Aaron Mason, Caygill continued to push at the wheel of his VW Scirocco but the gap to the next group of cars was too much to bridge over the last couple of tours.Starting race two from eighth on the grid, as per his earlier finishing position, the former British Supersport motorcycle racer was unfortunately elbowed back to 10th place on the first lap but displayed the same level of superb pace to recover very strongly.Trading places at the tail of the top 10 over the first few laps, Caygill emerged from a shuffling of the pack on lap seven in sixth position and on lap nine he moved up into fifth. Getting alongside Stewart Lines into lap 11, he then grabbed fourth before hunting down the top three.Into the final lap, Caygill was just a second shy of the podium placings and closed to within only 0.1 seconds of third placed David Sutton at the chequered flag. Just a few more yards would have made all the difference but fourth was still an exceptional career-best result. Notably, Caygill’s best lap of the race was quicker than those produced by any of the rostrum finishers.“We were so close to the podium, literally another two or three metres”, said Caygill, “There were actually another 10 seconds still left on the clock when the race ended but they put the chequered flag out early as another lad had gone off. To be fourth, though, with no practice or qualifying and then coming through from the back in race one, is really fantastic.“We only got to the hotel from Germany at about 3.30am, got to bed about quarter to four, so we didn’t get a great deal of sleep – although I did grab half an hour in the back of the van at the track after the first race! It’s been a great weekend, we got on with the job and showed some good pace.”Scirocco R Cup adventure starts positively at HockenheimBefore his Rockingham heroics, Caygill had a date with the opening two rounds of the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup at Hockenheim and while race one was a contact-heavy encounter, in round two he posted a best finish of 14th position.Ending the opening lap of the first race in 19th position after a contact-strewn beginning, Caygill mounted his fightback by passing Jasmin Preisig for 18th place before continuing to claw his way up the order – rising as high as 16th by lap six. During the second half of the race the series rookie was badly delayed by Frederik Schandorff who was driving ultra-defensively.Just a couple of laps from the finish, Caygill was shuffled back to 18th position where he remained to the chequered flag on lap 11, less than 0.2 seconds shy of Preisig on the run to the finish line but five seconds clear of his pursuers.In round two on Sunday, he climbed into the top 15 by the third tour and after pressuring Andre Gies he took 14th on lap seven. Fending off Marcel Muller during the final few laps, and actually opening a 1.2 second advantage, the Briton posted a 14th place finish to cap a strong debut.“Qualifying wasn’t great with the position, but the lap time was good”, he explained, “We knew it’d be hard on the first weekend, but we should have been a touch higher up the grid. We found chunks of time every time I went out though, which is all you can ask really.“The first race was a nightmare. Two cars had a spin at the first corner, so I had to run off the track to avoid them, then I was boxed in for the hairpin before getting clipped. I worked my way back into the middle bunch, though, but it was a real dogfight with a lot of contact.”Caygill added: “I had a better start to race two, I was catching the lead group quite quickly and overall I was happy how it turned out. There are some quick and experienced drivers in the R Cup who have raced in Europe but I’m confident we can start in the top 10 soon enough.”After an unbelievably hectic and challenging weekend of racing, Caygill now has a couple of weeks to rest before he returns to action on 17th/18th May at Oschersleben in Germany for rounds three and four of the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup.Visit www.joshcaygill.com for all the latest news and follow him on Twitter @Joshracer14Provisional 2014 Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup Driver Standings (after Rd4):=4th Josh Caygill & Stewart Lines, 90ptsProvisional 2014 Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup Driver Standings (after Rd2):16th Josh Caygill, 10pts