Red flags ruin another podium charge.

Bobby Thompson put on a sterling show at his home track at Brands Hatch, recovering from a boiled clutch at the start of the first race of the weekend to score another brace of top finishes in rounds 11 and 12 of the hotly contested Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup.

Fresh from his maiden podium in Britain’s best supported one-make saloon car championship last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, eighteen year-old Thompson, one of the UK’s youngest ARDS qualified race instructors, tackled the world famous 2.6-mile Brands Grand Prix circuit for the first time in Saturday’s all-important timed qualifying session.

“I’ve got lots of experience around the Indy circuit layout but I’d never seen the full GP circuit until my first qualifying run,” said Thompson, who placed his #19 Team HARD VW Golf GTI R Cup car on the second row of the grid. 

“I didn’t actually feel as though I was going that fast and I even ran off track at one point and went through a gravel trap. I decided to bring the car in early to save tyres and it was then that the team told me I was actually third fastest!!”

Although Phil House demoted Thompson to fourth in the final moments of qualifying, the driver who acts as an ambassador for Stilo Helmets was more than happy with how the car felt. “I was very proud of the result and I feel that the whole team are really in the zone at the moment. I was the fastest Golf and the fastest Team HARD driver and felt confident that I could add to my podium tally on Sunday.”

However Bobby’s thoughts of a podium quickly evaporated at the start of the first of Sunday’s two 20-minute races when his distinctive Hampson Haulage/Go HAM Clothing/DNA Insurance Services backed machine stayed rooted to its grid slot as the rest of the 28-strong field powered away.

“I dragged the clutch a bit too much on the warm-up lap trying to get heat into the tyres and boiled the clutch fluid,” confessed Thompson. “So the clutch was pinned to the floor and I had to hold my breath as everyone else went passed just hoping that nobody would hit me.”

Luckily everyone avoided Thompson’s stricken machine and he was able to release the clutch and finally start the race, albeit in 28th and last position.

“I got to Druids Hairpin on the first lap and caught the back of the field and I had the hump so I thought of it as a kart race where you have to start at the back and just went for it,” said Thompson, who went on to pass six cars on the opening lap.

More stunning overtaking moves followed on the next two laps and Bobby was running 14th on lap five when the safety car was deployed to recover a crashed vehicle, spoiling his momentum and critically cutting into the number of laps remaining.

When the safety car came in there were just three laps remaining and Bobby set about continuing his progress, passing another three cars to finish in 11th place.

“I was really frustrated at what could have been,” said Thompson afterwards. “I was convinced that I could have been on the podium and to make things worse, our finishing positions from the first race decided the grid for the second race so I knew that I wouldn’t be able to show off my true pace in race two either.”

By his own admission Bobby made a cautious getaway to the second 20-minute race of the weekend but was saved when a multiple car crash on the grid behind him brought out the red flags, although it did mean that the race would be shortened. 

On the restart Bobby was able to maintain 11th place and quickly continued his scorching pace from the first race, passing two cars on the first two laps until a major crash just in front of him drew out another red flag and brought the race to a premature and frustrating end.

“I was following Joe Fullbrook through Dingle Dell and he ran wide and clipped the barriers which sent him into a barrel roll,” recalled Bobby, who was able to avoid Fullbrook’s rotating vehicle and take 8th place. “It was even more frustrating to see the red flags as I knew I had the pace to get onto the podium and I could see me catching the leaders.

“The car was fantastic all weekend and [team boss] Tony Gilham was gutted for me as he could see how quick the car was. But as a team we are really on the pace and my teammate won race two. I’m really pleased for him but I know that if I had got away cleanly in race one I would have made him fight for it.”

The next two rounds of the championship take place at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk followed by the season-finale at Donington Park. Both are circuits that Bobby knows well and he is confident that he can improve on his current position of tenth in the championship table.

“The whole team is on a roll and we are out to take as many points of the championship frontrunners before the end of the year.”