Patel slides off in the wet Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup

HOCKENHEIM - Indias Aditya Patel was caught out by wet conditions and a throttle problem in the ninth and concluding round of the 2010 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup series to finish in 25h place and a lap down, here over the weekend.

Starting the race in 10th on the grid, Patel was up to sixth on lap one and fifth on lap two behind Ola Nillson who happened to be the only Championship driver ahead of him, the rest being the guest drivers.

However, five laps into the race, Patel began to encounter problems with the throttle response. He could only watch as cars began to overtake him. On lap 7, the problem occurred in the wrong place and sent Aditya off the track, into the gravel trap. That ended his hopes of a good finish yet again.

Its been a season of ups before things went terribly wrong! I can only look back and take the positives forward for next year. Id like to thank JK Tyre, Volkswagen, Amaron, Amante, Fly Kingfisher and Virtu Technologies for their support. Next year, I plan to participate in the Scirocco Cup for another shot at the title, said Aditya, who finished the championship in 12th spot with 170 points.

Earlier, in free practice, he was fourth quickest at the end of the 30-minute session. The qualifying round, run in the wet, the following day went awry for Patel who took to the track early by using his boost to set a good lap time as he did not want to risk getting caught up in a red flag situation or heavier rain at the end of the session.

But things did not go as per plan. The rain reduced visibility drastically and it was the last five minutes that mattered. By this time, he could only sit in the pit and watch as he tumbled from second place down to 10th in the dying moments of qualifying.