29th of April saw the 2017 VAG Trophy round 1 take place at Rockingham. The round was made up of two races, both proving to be tremendously intense. Race one’s Class A saw Paul Taylor take the victory, he was closely followed by Volkswagen Cup racer Ben Wallace in second and JWB team owner Nick Beaumont in third.
Taylor’s, an experienced Volkswagen Cup racer’s victory, did not come as a surprise, he held his position in the lead without too much struggle. However, a 17 year old racer, Wallace, who recently came back to represent RCIB’s sponsored TEAM Hard in VAG Trophy, surprised everyone by showing the spectators an impressive performance. He clearly did struggle a little during mid-race, when he managed to lose his position to Beaumont. However, it didn’t take long for Wallace to catch up and begin applying pressure on the rival, before snatching the position on lap 4 into the brook chicane.
Class B drivers saw the first race as exciting, all the drivers saw a chaotic start at the Deene hairpin. A duo of Audi TT’s lead the way heading towards the hairpin, who both soon managed to face collisions, which lead them both to unfortunate race ending, due to damage. Martyn Culley took the 1st place stand on the podium, followed by his team mate and father Barrie Culley in second and Tony Taylor, who is the father of Class A winner Paul Taylor, in third.
Race 2 saw the first race winners, prove themselves again, with only Nick Beaumont not gaining a podium stand this time. Kenan Dole successfully finished first, with Paul Taylor coming in second and Ben Wallace, after a close shave with Beaumont, coming in third place. The three drivers, kept their positions almost throughout the race, with only Ben Wallace managing to fall to fourth in lap 9, yet successfully regaining his position in the last lap. Class B first race winner, Martyn Culley, once again showed off his best moves and without too much trouble or any collisions took first place yet again – bringing home overall round 1 victory for his class. His father Barrie Culley once again coming in second place, with Tony Taylor following in third.

Round 2, which will be taking place in Snetterton on the 27th of May is set to be another exhilarating one. With drivers already back on race tracks preparing and mending their cars – who can we expect to come on top this time?!