3rd November 2008
Tom Boardman is SEAT Supercopa Champion
Tom Boardman, from Forton in Lancashire, has won the Spanish-based 2008 SEAT Leon Supercopa title in his Special Tuning UK Ltd-backed Triple R team Leon Cupra after he turned a 19 point deficit going into the last race meeting of the series at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona (November 1-2) into a championship winning advantage. His prize is a works drive with SEAT Sport in a round of the 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Despite only turning 25-years old three weeks ago (on October 15th), this is Tom’s fifth motor racing title. He also becomes the only driver to have won a SEAT touring car title in Britain and Spain, having won the UK-based SEAT Cupra Championship in 2005.
During the 18 round Supercopa series, where three races take place at each of the six race meetings, Tom scored an unbeaten six race wins, qualified on the front row five times (three poles; two seconds) and set the fastest lap in a race eight times.
Tom arrived at the final race meeting in a confident frame of mind and qualified on pole in wet conditions for Race 1; alongside Liam McMillan in a Triple R all front row. Even with series leader Oscar Nogués qualifying down in 8th, Tom still needed to win the opening race of the weekend and for Nogués to non-score to give himself a realistic chance of the winning the title – and that’s exactly what happened.
On a cold but dry Spanish F1 Grand Prix track, Tom made a great start and led the race from start to finish and scored maximum points by setting the fastest lap of the race. Meanwhile Nogués dropped to 12th and was later excluded from the results, meaning that, in a dramatic turnaround, Tom went to bed on Saturday night leading the series by one point.
Tom awoke to torrential rain on Sunday morning. It was still raining hard when the weather- delayed first race began, and conditions were so treacherous that three cars skidded off the track on the slow formation lap. Race 2 eventually started behind the Safety Car, and from 6th place on the grid Tom took the chequered flag in 5th – but was later classified 4th, when Miguel Freitas, who had initially finished 2nd, was given a 30 second penalty.
With Nogués sliding off the track in Race 2 and being relegated to the back of the grid for the start of the third and final race, the title advantage had suddenly swung in Tom favour.
All Tom had to do to win the Supercopa title was finish ahead of his rival in Race 3. The conditions remained extremely wet and after a rolling start and chaos at the first corner, Tom finished the final race of the season in 4th place, well ahead of Nogués, to become Supercopa Champion for the first time.
Nogués finished runner-up in the series, with Francesc Gutierrez in 3rd.
It was also a great weekend for the Forton-based Triple R team, as Liam finished all three races on the podium (3rd, 2nd and 2nd), completing his first Supercopa season in outstanding style.
Tom Boardman said: “What a turnaround, I can’t believe it! Everything worked out perfectly this weekend and I’m delighted to have won the Supercopa title. It’s a really tough championship to win, because we have to score consistently well in all eighteen races to give yourself a good chance. We had five bad results, which put us on the back foot coming into the final race meeting of the season. I needed everything to go right for me and for pretty much everything to go wrong for Oscar Nogués – which was a long shot, as he only needed to keep his car on the track and keep on scoring a few points to beat me.
“I think the weather helped me because I like racing in the wet and we had a very good wet- weather set-up with the car. To get both the Triple R cars qualified on the front row was a great achievement. Liam [McMillan] was on pole for much of qualifying before I put in a slightly quicker time.
“The first race was the only time it was dry all weekend, and once again I think we are more used to those type of changeable conditions than some of the Spanish teams are, and Liam and I both finished on the podium while Oscar was out of the points.
“I was only one point ahead starting the final day of the season, and whilst there was still everything to play for I was pretty confident we could take the title with two more good races. And that’s exactly what happened. It all came down to the final race of the season and I felt pretty relieved to cross the finish line in fourth and win the title.
“It’s my fifth title as a driver and after grass track, mini stocks and T-Cars I’d say it was the second professional championship title I’ve won, so I’m very pleased. I’m looking forward to driving for SEAT in the World Touring Car Championship next year. In recent years the Supercopa champion has raced with SEAT at Valencia, so if that happens again next year I’ll be very pleased. I like the circuit and in the Supercopa series there this year I won the opening race from pole, so I’d go there looking to do well in the WTCC.”
SEAT SuperCopa 2008 final standings
1. Tom Boardman…159pts
2. Oscar Nogués…144pts
3. Francesc Gutierrez…135pts
4. Marin Colak…83pts
10. Liam McMillan …42pts