Last gasp race one win taken away at Donington. Bob fights back from 25th to fifth in season-finale.
Bobby Thompson finished his rookie season in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup in fine style at Donington Park even though his nail biting second win of the season was subsequently taken away from him.
Fresh from his dominant maiden series victory last time out at Snetterton the nineteen year-old Team HARD driver arrived at the famous Donington circuit in a buoyant mood as he looked to impress once again in Britain’s best supported one-make saloon car championship in front of a bumper crowd and the live Motors TV cameras.
Having firmly established himself as one of the championships’ leading contenders throughout the second half of the 16-race championship Bobby was once again on top form, qualifying third fastest, snatching a sensational last corner victory in race one and then fighting back from 25th on the grid to fifth in race two after the stewards controversially stripped him of his race one triumph.
“I didn’t feel any pressure coming into the weekend and I set out like I had nothing to lose,” said Thompson, who is one of the UK’s youngest ARDS qualified race instructors. “But when I went out for qualifying the tracking wasn’t right so I thought that I would be somewhere in the teens. It was a massive shock when I came in and the team told me I was third fastest.”
Mindful that the second race of the weekend was 40-minutes long, the longest in series history, Bobby brought his distinctive #19 Hampson Haulage/DNA Insurance/Go HAM Clothing VW Golf GTI R Cup car into the pits early to save tyres and with nobody improving on his time during the final few minutes Bob would line up on the inside of row two for the opening 20-minute race of the weekend.
The drama started early when the lights changed with Bobby dropping to tenth as the 26-strong field powered around turn one. But Bobby quickly made progress and was in the top six at the end of lap one. A brief intervention of the safety car halted progress temporarily but when racing resumed Bobby quickly picked off several other rivals until only his teammates Michael Epps and Howard Fuller remained in front.
“I got up to third and then passed Michael into the chicane at the start of the GP Loop and as I knew he was carrying success ballast he wasn’t able to fight back so I could chase down Howard for the lead.”
Bobby quickly caught his teammate Fuller and a great scrap ensued with Fuller defending resolutely and the two running side by side for several laps. On the final lap Fuller appeared to have things covered but there was still one corner to go.
“Howard was defending really well and even though I got alongside a couple of times I couldn’t get through,” said Bobby. “But coming into the last corner he ran a little bit wide and I was able to get underneath him. It was a drag race to the line and I managed to get a nose ahead.”
However the euphoria of Bobby’s last gasp win was to be short lived as the stewards excluded him for a racing incident, meaning he would have to start race two from 25th place on the 26 car grid complete with 40kg of success ballast from ‘winning’ race one. But instead of getting frustrated, Bobby remained focused.
“I wanted to show that you can drive from the back of the field to the front with no contact so I was especially determined at the start. With the extra weight in the car I knew I would struggle at the hairpin so I had to make that ground up around the rest of the lap.”
When the lights turned green Bobby began a 40-minute charge up the order that was, at times, breathtaking to behold. Despite having the heaviest car in the race Bobby calmly sliced through the tail enders and middle order before hunting down the top ten, who were able to break away.
“The temperature in the car was really going up but I’ve been training really hard in the gym thanks to my sponsors at Go HAM Clothing and so I knew my fitness wouldn’t be a problem. The car was perfect and just kept on getting better and better as the race went on so I wish it was 60 minutes and not just 40.”
In 23 laps Bobby was able to pass 20 cars to cross the line in an exultant fifth place, his fastest lap coming in at more than two tenths of a second quicker than race winner Michael Epps. Making the result even sweeter was the fact that Team HARD completed the year with a total lock out of the top five positions, which Bobby felt was a fine justification of the work put in this year.
“It’s a great way to end the season,” said Bobby. “It would have been great to be on the podium, especially for my sponsors at Hampson Haulage who were here this weekend but everyone in the team knows how hard that last race was and that I put in a good performance and that is what really matters.”
Bobby finishes the year in a solid tenth place in the championship standings with wins, podium finishes, lap records and pole positions to his name, something which he is understandably proud of.
“It’s been a fantastic year; the whole team have been excellent on and off the track in looking after me and my sponsors. The hospitality they have shown has been second to none and considering this is the first full championship I have completed I am really happy. Next year though I’ve only got one goal and that is to win the title.”
