HE took the fight for the Volkswagen Racing Cup championship down to the final race, but Northwich driver Mark Wakefield could not quite get over the line at Donington Park.

The 21-year-old won the first of two races at the weekend to narrow the gap between him and championship leader Owen Walton to just two points.

However, a technical issue forced him to start the final outing from the pit lane and Walton drove a calculated race to take the title.

After the first race, Wakefield said: “We got a fairly decent start and Josh [Coggan] did a good job of holding the field back.

“Good race as I was up-front all the way through. The last couple of laps were really close for me.

“The tyres and brakes were really hot, but we managed to do it in the end after I locked up in those last few corners.

“Ru (Clarke) was alongside on the Melbourne straight, so I had to anchor on the brakes into the chicane and defend as much as I could and pulled a slight gap.

“However, I almost lost it all by locking up and running wide onto the grass.

“It’s closed the championship right up, to get it down from 14 points, to 2 points now, it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Wakefield ends the season on 474 points.