VW Cup: Depper Unstoppable at Sunny Silverstone Opener

A stunning lights-to-flag domination from Jack Depper saw the VW Scirocco record the perfect start to the year at Silverstone. Leading by the first corner, Depper never looked back and got his Volkswagen Racing Cup championship assault off to a perfect start, taking the 18 points.

Olly Turner, courtesy of his stunning late qualifying lap, would have led the field away for the first race of the year around the International circuit. However, disaster for Turner meant he could not get away at the start, bringing an early safety car as the JM Racing driver was pushed back behind the pit wall. He would eventually get back on track, but was not classified at the finish.

At the restart, Depper, who was now leading as a result, made the most of the free air, pulling out a considerable gap to the experienced Russell Joyce.

The battle of the race saw fans glued on the fight for the final podium position with barely a second separating the battling Jeff Alden and Chris Wallis. The rookie took advantage as the leading Touring Car Trophy lapped but could not permanently find his way ahead as Alden made the Hyundai’s run the long way around.

Depper continued to stretch his gap throughout, eventually crossing the finish line an incredible 22.8 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger. Fresh from winning the three races at the end of the 2020 season, which included the Tom Walker Memorial Trophy, Silverstone represented the fourth win a row for the young Depper, a run he’ll be keen to build on.

Joyce took his best result ever in the series with a second place giving him plenty to build on come the year ahead, as Alden rounded out the podium. For Alden too, the result marked back-to-back VW Cup podiums at Silverstone and will be promising for the Matrix Motorsport crew.

Speaking after the race, Depper said;

“It was a nice drive today. I managed to pull away quickly so it felt like more of a Sunday drive than a race day to me. It’s a shame that we didn’t get to race with Olly Turner today, it would have been great to have some battles with him, but I’ll take the win and the points in the championship and we’ll move on to the next race.”

“To keep consistent times can be pretty difficult, especially when you haven’t got someone there pushing you from behind. You do relax a little more, which can lead to mistakes and can lead to others catching up, but luckily I kept my head to get it to the end in P1.”