NEWS RELEASE: 8 DECEMBER 2011

KPM PLANS SIX-CAR VOLKSWAGEN RACING CUP ATTACK

KPM Racing is to expand its challenge in the Volkswagen Racing Cup next season to field at least six cars – two of them new-shape Sciroccos. The squad, which is headed by former Honda F1 technician Kevin Poole, is also building a current-model Mk VI Golf GTI.

James Walker, who won three races for KPM in 2011 on his way to runner-up spot in the championship, will lead the Silverstone-based team into action again, forsaking the Golf GTI which he has campaigned for four seasons for a Scirocco.

The 25-year-old from Nottinghamshire, son of truck-racing champion Richard Walker, will be a title contender, says Poole: “James’s Golf was a race-winning car last season and what we are doing is building the best parts of that car into a new Scirocco shell, and that should make all the difference for the coming year. James is one of the quickest guys out there…”

A second Scirocco is in build at KPM for Craig Milner, who enjoyed his first taste of the Volkswagen Racing Cup at the end of the 2011 season; the former bike-racing champion turned to cars two years ago in the Ferrari Open sports car series. Both Milner’s and Walker’s Sciroccos will be powered by the race-proven 2-litre TFSI turbocharged engine.

There will be twin KPM Racing Mk V Golf GTIs for championship returnees Mark Howard and Philip Morris. Howard, the 1993 victor of the Renault 5GT Turbo championship, returned to racing in the Volkswagen Racing Cup at the start of the 2011 season and went on to claim championship ninth, with a best race finish of sixth. Morris is returning for his third year in the series having broken into the top 10 on occasion this season.

Cameron Thompson will be fifth man in the squad with his Beetle RSI, and there is a sixth car – a new TFSI-powered Mk VI Golf GTI – in build at KPM as a race-rental machine. “Six cars is an ambitious plan,” says Poole, “but the team will be carefully structured at race meetings to ensure that everything runs smoothly. We were delighted by our results in 2011 and hope very much to build on that success next season.”

Championship manager Sam Roach of RacingLine added: “KPM’s six-car vote of confidence in the championship is heartening. It will be great to see more Sciroccos on the grid also.”