Milltek Golf and Tom Onslow-Cole at Tuner GP

BTCC Ace Tom Onslow-Cole continued his stunning season form over the bank holiday weekend by driving the wheels off the Milltek-backed Time Attack-spec Golf racecar in the Tuner GP at Hockenheim. Despite having never even sat in the car before, Onslow-Cole was able to find instant speed from his first out-lap onwards, and ran near the front of the pack for much of the meeting, ultimately recording a creditable 7th place against much quicker and more powerful competition.

Despite heavy traffic on the Friday, Tom hustled the car to 5th on the time sheets. Nestling amongst the Corvettes, GT-Rs and 911s, The Golf stuck out a little in the rankings, but it did reveal what a capable pairing the latest Milltek race machine and the Surrey ace made. With the times averaged out, Tom was also second in class, boding well for the race, but with a BTCC-style reverse grid starting him in 18th place, he had it all to do when the race started. When compared to the qually and practice sessions, the race was to prove similarly fruitful. Tom quickly gained some 13 places to sit for a while in 5th spot, but clearly having to drive at 110% on every part of the circuit was starting to over-work the tyres, resulting in him dropping two places in the dying minutes of the race.

Milltek also took their Time Attack Championship-winning GT-R race car over to Hockenheim, along with reigning Club AWD champ Richard Marshall. Sadly, luck wasn’t on Richard’s side for much of the weekend. Plagued with electrical gremlins in practise, and then gearbox problems in qualifying, Marshall was clearly unable to exploit his usual form. When the gearbox problems persisted into race day, resulting in uncompetitive times, he reluctantly retired.

Commenting on a weekend of ups-and-downs, Milltek managing director, Phil Millington said, ‘It’s a shame that the GT-R wouldn’t behave this weekend, but we’re clearly elated with Tom’s results. It’s a relatively under-powered car in this company, so to sit in 5th for so long, and to record a 7th overall is a brilliant result - particularly when you look at our position is class. As we saw at Thruxton with the BTCC car, Tom is clearly flying this year, and it’s been invaluable data for the rest of our Time Attack season. It was also wonderful to meet so many fans and enthusiasts, who were clearly interested in our road and motorsport ranges too. Overall, it’s been a superb weekend.

Catching up after the race, a clearly enthused Onslow-Cole said, ‘I’ve had an awful lot of fun at the Tuner GP, and I’d really like to thank the Milltek team for their excellent work in prepping and running the car. It’s a testament to how well it’s been set up that I can literally just jump into it and be competitive from the off. I try to experience as many other series as my BTCC diary will allow, and the Tuner GP has been a superb weekend all round. Hopefully, I’ll be out in the Milltek Golf again before the year is out!

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