GULFAIR GOLF ON TOP FORM AT CASTLE COMBE

A superbly competitive showing in yesterday's (Sun) round of the British GT Championship has given hope to Team GulfAir that their turbocharged Volkswagen Golf GTI will be a top finisher before long.

The Golf, driven by Ruislip's Steve Wood, ran rings around many of its GTC class rivals at Castle Combe to set the third-quickest race lap time, well ahead of a brace of Ferraris, a Marcos and a Lotus.

But there was disappointment for the Gulf Air, ART and Cambridge Business Travel-backed team that, although classified as a finisher, the Golf didn't make it to the chequered flag.

"We had a gearbox problem five minutes from the end," said team boss Stuart Scott, "and we had to retire. It was a great shame because we were fourth in class at the time and catching the car in third place hand over fist. We would have made the podium for sure."

Because the race was run in two parts, the aggregate results show the Golf as seventh-place GTC class finisher.

"It's a small compensation to see our names on the results sheet," said Scott, MD of Cambridge Business Travel, "but we would rather have seen the chequered flag. "We are not dispirited, though, because the modifications made to the car before the race resulted in a massive boost in power and we were much more competitive as a result. We'll be back with a bigger, stronger gearbox next time!"

The next round of the British GT Championship is at Oulton Park on 13 July.

There's a chance that the Golf will be seen in action sooner than that, though; Scott and Wood are considering an entry into this weekend's (28/29 Jun) rounds of the Volkswagen Racing Cup at Donington Park.

23 June 2003