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SCIROCCO CONFIRMED FOR VOLKSWAGEN RACING CUP

The burgeoning grid of the Volkswagen Racing Cup will be enhanced by at least two examples of the exciting new Volkswagen Scirocco next season, it has been announced.(artists impression left)

Two Sciroccos are currently in build at the Milton Keynes workshops of Volkswagen Racing UK and will be driven in the Hankook-backed championship by Mike Kurton and Liam Griffin. They will both be powered by the 2-litre turbo petrol engine raced successfully in the Golf GTI and are expected to pack a 220-240bhp punch.

Kurton enjoyed his most successful season in 2008 at the wheel of a Golf GTI, winning his first race and claiming championship fourth, and plans to build on that with the Scirocco. "We will unveil the car in January and then we will be testing the socks off it so that we hit the ground running at the first round," says Mike, who will be backed by plumbing services companies BSS and PTS. "We have gone for a very high specification on the car and we have high hopes for a good year."

Kurton will be contesting his fifth consecutive season in the Racing Cup, while 35-year-old Griffin will be taking part in only his second season of motorsport. Liam and his elder brother, Kieran, will mount a two-car attack on the championship with their Addison Lee team. Kieran will race a Golf GTI, Liam a Scirocco.

"My brother and I enjoyed our first year in the Volkswagen Racing Cup so much, and the Scirocco is such a stunning looking and great car to drive, that the decision to have one was simple," said Liam, the MD of London-based minicab, courier, chauffeur and coach company Addison Lee plc. "Also, our company is one of Volkswagen's largest fleet customers, and we very much wanted to support the championship with one of Volkswagen's newest cars."

Volkswagen Racing UK is the only permitted builder of racing versions of the Scirocco, and the firm's Melissa Wright says there is strong interest from other competitors: "The Scirocco will make a fantastic addition to the championship and I am expecting other drivers to join Mike and Liam in placing Scirocco orders with us. Like the Golf GTI before it, the Scirocco will have race-winning potential straight from the box."

The new Scirocco already has a strong racing pedigree: in May the specially prepared Scirocco GT24 placed first and second in class - and 11th overall - in the world's toughest endurance race, the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

RacingLine, the company behind Volkswagen Racing UK, will be unveiling the new Scirocco at the Autosport International show in January. The company has a 10-year pedigree in bringing new Volkswagen products to the track, and stole a march on all its rivals in 2005 when it developed the very first racing version of the current-model Golf GTI

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