RUDD REJOINS YOUNG & TALENTED TEAM HARD SQUAD


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Rudd joins the Team HARD stable. Photo: Image Vaults

Promising Kent racer Simon Rudd is the latest to sign for Team HARD for the forthcoming Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup season. The 25-year-old from Rochester will pilot a freshly built Golf GTI liveried in the colours of lift fabrication company Elsfab.

Rudd finished in the championship top 20 last year after a challenging debut season of saloon racing, and Team HARD boss Tony Gilham believes there is plenty to come: “Simon showed glimpses of his pace and natural ability last year but never quite got the results he deserved. He has shown in various other formulae that he has the speed to mix it right at the front. At times we let him down with the car last season. However, this year we have an all-new set up and we should see a marked improvement from us both on- and off-track. Simon has amazing support and if we can get it right together this season, who knows where we can take him.”

Added Rudd: “Last season was a huge learning curve for me, it being my first full season in cars, and this year I am looking forward to really pushing on and moving further up the field. A huge amount of work has gone in over the winter and the cars look great. We have already had a shakedown and completed more than 100 laps, with more planned before the start of the season. I believe that we are in a much stronger position than last year and I am looking forward to a successful 2015 with Team HARD.”

Rudd will have three teenage Golf-driving team-mates for the coming VW Cup season: 16-year-old car-racing rookie Damani Marcano, who has an impressive club-level karting pedigree; 17-year-old Robert Cox, a winner in the BRSCC’s Fiesta series; and 18-year-old Bobby Thompson, who raced Formula Fords last season.

Said Gilham: “The next phase of Team HARD’s racing strategy involves picking the brightest youngsters, supporting them financially in our scholarship programme and watching them flourish.”

The Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup is the chief supporting series to the British GT Championship, featuring alongside the UK’s leading sports car championship at all of its events, most of them televised live on Motors TV.

The opening rounds take place at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend (4-6 April). This season will see 16 races decide the championship outcome, with longer races planned for the Spa, Snetterton and Donington Park events.


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