Josh Caygill wrapped-up the second event of the Audi Sport TT Cup season just four points shy of the championship top six after a consistent – if less than straightforward – outing at the Nurburgring in Germany on Friday, 27th May, and Saturday, 28th May.

Finishing ninth in both rounds three and four, which formed part of the support package to the prestigious ADAC Zurich 24 Hour race, the Netherton driver battled a slow puncture in the opening contest and then a clutch issue in race two but still ended the weekend happy with his progress.

“Our results didn’t reflect the performance”, said the 26-year-old, “Race one was what it was, there wasn’t much in it at all, but in race two I was third quickest for most of the race – the ninth place didn’t show how competitive we were. This time last year we’d have taken these results, so going away disappointed shows how much we’ve come on. It just didn’t go in our favour this weekend.”

Qualifying didn’t go exactly to plan for Josh, the former motorcycle racer ending the run with the ninth fastest time. As was the case during the first race meeting of the season, though, the gaps between the drivers were minimal to say the least – thousandths of a second the difference.

Making a great start to Friday morning’s race, Josh steered his No.14 Audi TT Cup car into seventh place and remained there beyond mid-distance running with the lead group. He then started to struggle somewhat with tyre wear and on lap eight he was edged back to eighth by Sheldon van der Linde before falling into the clutches of Gosia Rdest.

As the Polish driver closed in, Josh defended well and some great racing ensued between the pair but on lap 11 the Briton slipped to ninth as a result of a slow puncture which compromised his speed. Holding ninth to the finish, his best lap of 1m53.232 seconds was quicker than top four pace.

For round four on Saturday morning, Josh started an improved eighth on the grid and got away from the fourth row well to hold position into Turn One sandwiched between two other Audis. Emerging from the corner safely in eighth, he ran with the group ahead but on lap two Max Hofer successfully challenged for the place on the run out of the Bit-Kurve.

Now holding ninth, Josh stayed with Hofer as the pair gapped the pack behind by two seconds and the latter began to close on the four car pack ahead. Although Josh did lose some time to Hofer as the race approached mid-distance, he closed back in and on lap six he moved back into the top eight when Christoph Hofbauer dropped back.

By the start of lap seven, Josh was right on the tail of Hofer and Philip Ellis who were battling over sixth but then, on lap nine, the Safety Car was deployed due to a stranded car at the last corner. One lap later, racing resumed and Josh made a good re-start but into the chicane towards the end of the lap he drifted wide across the gravel as a result of a clutch issue which prevented gear selection.

Slipping to ninth place as a result behind Hofbauer, he remained there to the chequered flag at the end of lap 12 and delivered pace less than 0.1 seconds shy of top five performance. Although not the results he aimed for at the start of the weekend, two consistent scores mean the Briton concluded the event still in among the lead championship contenders.

“Race two was a bit frustrating in the end as I’d had a really good race and was quite a lot faster than the two cars in front of me, plus I had double the ‘push to pass’ boost they had”, explained Josh, “I had a big gap behind too, so it was as good a situation as you could be in really.

“Going along the back straight after the Safety Car, though, I braked in the normal place at the top of the hill for the chicane and tried to go from sixth gear to fourth but the clutch wouldn’t release the gear – it was all linked to the ABS system. As the speed of one of the rear wheels was 10% different to the others, the system wouldn’t let me select the gear and the rear of the car stepped out.”

Josh added: “You can’t do anything about these things. The main thing from this weekend is how genuinely happy I am with my own performance, my driving has stepped forward again and we’re looking forward to Norisring now – I really like that track.”

Next on the Audi Sport TT Cup schedule is a visit to the Norisring street circuit in Germany over the weekend 25th/26th June. As ever, live online streaming of rounds five and six will be carried at www.audimedia.tv

2016 Audi Sport TT Cup Driver Standings (after Rd4):7th Josh Caygill, 47pts