VW Cup: Bradley Kent Wins by 14 seconds in Opening race

A dominant performance from Bradley Kent saw the Essex and Kent Motorsport driver take victory in the first race of the Silverstone weekend.

It’s a maiden win for the teenager who pulls himself into championship contention as a result. The poor result for Gilbert means that the top three in the standings are separated by just 14 points and could yet be closer as Kent aims to repeat his success in the second event.

Starting on pole, Kent was unchallenged throughout. Picking up a fastest lap of 1:03.355, it wouldn’t take long for the Scirocco to establish a ten second lead over those behind.

The major action of the race was the battle for second as late entry Andy Wilmot defended from the highly experienced Paul Ivens. Less than a second separated them throughout with Ivens using the lapping Touring Car Trophy cars to disrupt the flow of the former-BTCC racer. An experienced head, Wilmot would not relinquish, promoting himself to second in the standings as Ivens rounded out the trophies.

It proved to be a disaster for championship leader Richard Gilbert. A technical issue for the Golf on the opening lap prevented any chance of silverware, dropping a lap down, though importantly finishing.

Now on 124 points, Gilbert still leads the standings, but will need to hit back in race two to prevent the challenge from both Kent and Wilmot.

The returning Russell Joyce pitted on the second lap, eventually retiring before the flag. Meanwhile, despite qualifying third, Jeff Alden was unable to make the start after an engine change.

Speaking after the race, Kent said;

“We had a few issues, but the key was getting a gap at the start. I had a good getaway and set some promising lap times by the look of my dashboard, the car was absolutely fantastic, as it has been all weekend. We smashed it in qualifying and hopefully we can do the same in the next one.”

Race two will be livestreamed on the VW Racing Cup social media and the BRSCC Facebook page at 16:30