SEAT Cupra Tom Aims to Keep on Truckin' at Croft

11 July 2005

Tom Boardman’s race weekend will begin, as usual, when he loads his Special Tuning UK/Triple R Leon Cupra R into the back of a 40 foot transporter and drives his own 38 tonne truck to Rounds 9 and 10 of the Smartnav SEAT Cupra Championship, which takes place at Croft circuit on July 16/17.

It’s not something Fernando Alonso does too often, but it hasn’t prevented the 21-year old driver from Forton in Lancashire opening up a lead in the SEAT series with the same style and performance shown by the current leader of the Formula 1 Championship.  Tom currently leads the SEAT Cupra Championship by 23 points and aims to build on his four wins and seven podiums already recorded as the second half of the 16 round series begins at the North Yorkshire circuit.  With Round 9 taking place on Saturday 16th July and Round 10 starting 24 hours later, Tom has already planned what he’ll do between races.

Boardman said: “Croft is one of my favourite tracks, so I’m really looking forward to racing there again.  I won there with SEAT last year and this year we’re going back aiming to win both races. We’ve got twenty four hours to fix the car if anything goes wrong in the first race and if there’s nothing to do with the race car I can polish the truck!  It’s probably the oldest truck in the paddock, but it’s just been re-sprayed and I love driving it.”

Carl Breeze (Blue Chip Group/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R) is Boardman’s nearest series rival, but he’s coming under pressure from Mat Jackson (Whale Tankers/Jackson Motorsport Leon Cupra R) who added to his Thruxton race victory by winning last time out at Oulton Park.  Mat’s race results prove that a family-run team can compete with some of the UK’s biggest and best independent race teams and he is confident more race wins are on the cards.

Jackson said: “We’re such a small team, but it all came together at Oulton Park when the driving, car set-up and team all just clicked.  We’re pretty confident about our prospects at Croft because the car’s working well and I’ve got a good record at the circuit.  I won my first Clio race there and I won a BTCC Production class race there as well, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Tom Ferrier (Darwin/Team Parker Racing Leon Cupra R) lost ground at Oulton Park as he was unable to test before going there to race, but with four podiums and a win under his belt the 23-year old from Bletchingley in Surrey will be aiming to return to his winning ways.

Consistently good results had made Mark Cole (Bovis Lend Lease/Team Parker Racing Leon Cupra R) a title contender and he vows to do everything he can to bounce back after his qualifying collision with Henry Taylor (Mortgage Strategy magazine/Total Control Racing Leon Cupra R), which put them both out of the Oulton Park meeting.

Cole said: “We have every intention of racing at Croft and we are doing everything we can to repair the car.  If we get out I think we’ll be back on the pace, but it’s a race against time at the moment.”

Alan Blencowe (Blue Diamond/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R) has finished third twice, but such is the closeness at the front of the field that there are only a few tenths of a second between a podium finish and seventh – a position he’s also finished in twice.

Ian Churchill (Bedford Battery Co/Churchill Motorsport Leon Cupra R), Jonathan Young (Commercial Vehicle Direct/SRE Motorsport Leon Cupra R) and Dave Pinkney (Motorbase Performance Leon Cupra R) all finished on the SEAT podium for the first time at Oulton Park, and with Mike Doble (Castrol/Doble Motorsport Leon Cupra R) scoring a season-best fourth all will be aiming for similar success at Croft.

Adrian Churchill (Bedford Battery Co/Churchill Motorsport Leon Cupra R) has scored an extra bonus point for best improvement on grid position three times, showing what a great racer he is, whilst Nick Leason (Cube Design/CMS Motorsport Leon Cupra R) feels he is learning quickly after missing all the pre-season testing and joining the series at Round 5.  Whilst Chris Egginton (Harben Barker/Team GVR Leon Cupra R) will miss the Croft races owing to business commitments, local fans will no doubt be supporting 19-year old Newcastle Upon Tyne driver Harry Vaulkhard (Fluid Design Solutions/JS Motorsport Leon Cupra R).

Two 15 minute qualifying sessions for Rounds 9 and 10 of the Smartnav SEAT Cupra Championship will start on Saturday 16th July at 10.50 and 13.55, with the first race taking place over 12 laps of the 2.1 mile Croft circuit at 17.15.  Round 10 starts on Sunday 17th July at 17.10.

See series calendar for SEAT Cupra Championship 2005

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