Caygill Equals Scirocco R Cup Season Best In Austria

Austria’s Red Bull Ring provided another fresh challenge for  Josh Caygill over the weekend, 2nd/3rd August, but competitive progress throughout the latest Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup event resulted in a season best-equalling top 10 finish in race two.Making his first ever appearance at the Spielberg track, the 24-year-old category rookie started out with his usual learning curve but made strong steps forward and managed to improve his pace by roughly a second between practice and the races.Qualifying inside the top 20 for the opening encounter on Saturday, Caygill was edged back a place early on but climbed into 18th position before the end of the first lap. Sandwiched between Pascal Hoffmann and Simon Larsson during the first few laps, by the fifth tour the Briton had managed to shake off the Swede and set about trying to usurp Hoffmann.Before he had chance to try and make a clear-cut move, though, he had to take to the grass on lap eight to try and avoid the stricken Scirocco of Gosia Rdest. Following a Safety Car period, the action resumed on lap 10 with Caygill determined to make his way towards the top 15.Getting great drive out of the final corner into the penultimate lap, the West Yorkshireman edged alongside Hoffmann but couldn’t quite make the move stick. In the end, he finished in 16th position just 0.4 seconds shy of the German.“In hindsight, after watching the onboard, I didn’t need to take to the grass but at the time you can’t be sure of where the car is going to end up”, explained Caygill, “In the practice I had to try and learn the track, plus I hadn’t driven the car for a few weeks, so we weren’t where we wanted to be. The first race went pretty well though, I was happy enough with it.”Enjoying a great opening to round seven on Sunday, the ex-motorcycle racer sliced his way through into the top 15 and moved up into 14th place before the Safety Car was required after a car stopped on track. At the re-start shortly after, Caygill was unfortunately bundled back to 16th position when race one rivals Hoffmann and Larsson both benefited from using the ‘push to pass’ boost system.Soon enough, Caygill was back into 14th place and remained there to the chequered flag on lap 12 just 0.8 seconds behind the next car. Post-race, though, officials served four drivers with penalties for yellow flag infringements – elevating Caygill into the top 10.“Sunday’s race equals my best yet in the R Cup so I’m happy with that”, he reflected, “It was a bit frustrating with the Safety Car, I had a good gap behind me before it came out but then, at the re-start, you have people who you are quicker than still able to pass you with the ‘push to pass’.“We were learning every session and the times were coming down, in the first session I was about two seconds off, in qualifying about 1.4 seconds off and then in the races I got that down to about a second – so we were definitely getting there. The Red Bull Ring is a mega track, it was rammed with spectators, definitely a good do this weekend.”Germany’s Nurburgring will host the penultimate event of the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup season, rounds eight and nine, over the weekend 16th/17th August.


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