MARK Wakefield declared himself happy after making his debut in a new series last weekend.

The Northwich driver finished inside the top 10 behind the wheel of a Team HARD Racing-prepared Golf in the VW Racing Cup's opener at Silverstone.

He could not repeat the trick in race two, when his car succumbed to a mechanical problem, but that didn't dampen his mood to much.

"It was a challenge, but I enjoyed it," said the 20-year-old.

"I expected a big learning curve jumping out of a MINI and into a VW, and I'll need a bit more time to adjust.

"The rain through us a curveball too because I hadn't tested in wet weather.

"That made life harder for me."

The former Weaverham High School student set the 10th best time during qualifying on Saturday, leaving him on the grid's fifth row for the first race.

From there he edged up the order to cross the line in ninth position.

Wakefield climbed to seventh in the second sprint on Sunday before he was forced to retire before the finish after his car's engine lost power.

A broken differential was found afterwards to be the cause.

"It's frustrating because things were going great," he reflected.

"I'd made up places and was enjoying one or two battles with the guys around me before I lost drive going into Becketts and had to pull off.

"It would have been nice to get a couple of top 10 finishes in the first round, but it wasn't to be.

"I feel positive though, and I'll feel more at home in the car when I get into it again at Rockingham."

Dennis Strandberg (Maximum Motorsport VW Scirocco) took victory in both races.

That leaves him top of the drivers' standings before the series' second round at the end of this month.