March 23, 2012
Published on tags: Supercup
The party in the Halcyon Racing Team motor-home went on well into the early hours of Thursday morning as the team scored its first ever trophy at the Supercup Chinese Grand Prix. The result marks an amazing journey for the Brackley based outfit which only learned it would be taking part in the Supercup a month before the season started.

Cullen surprised many by working his way up from sixth on the grid to second by the end of lap six. He proceeded to keep race leader Petter Kaasa honest for much of the first stint. A minor error on cold tyres on his out-lap and a pace increase by Kaasa would see the final gap at just twenty seconds at the end of the race. His race performance saw him credited with the 'Driver of the Day' award from commentators Nick Rowland and Lee Morris.

"Obviously I am ecstatic with the result. In Australia I failed to hit all my marks. The speed was there but some race rustiness coupled with a some in-race frustrations led to silly errors on my part that compromised the race. I'm my own biggest critic and I felt we got lucky in Australia to come out with the result we did with the mistakes I made," said Cullen when quizzed by journalists after the race. "A lot of effort was put in and today we got the result we deserved. I still feel like I'm learning more about this car with each session. There was a few areas I know myself and the team can look at going forward to improve upon."

Team owner Rouse, who finished fifth in the race preforming for Hawkeye Racing, was equally thrilled with the teams first podium. "Two months ago we had cars preparing to go racing for the Formula Challenge. Now we have our first podium in the Supercup. To take the fight to the established front runners in such a short space of time is brilliant."

While there was joy one side of the garage for Halcyon, the second car remained under a tarp after Sam Millar did not arrive in China. One anonymous source claimed that Millar had been denied a visa to enter the country upon his arrival at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport. The team was unable to field a replacement in time, leaving Cullen the sole representative for the team in the race. Rouse saw the silver lining in the clouds, jokingly telling the amassed media that he was glad that "at least he didn't end up in a Shanghai night club."

Second place marks Philip's best result outside of the Masters winter series. His single seater career at the GPVWC has been less than stellar up to this point. He has endured a nomadic career within the GPVWC, joining the community in late 2005. Various part seasons and relief driver roles saw him tally just a single Supercup and 28 Superleague starts before leaving in 2009. The Irish native is in no doubt that he is a completely different driver to the one that was last seen driving open wheel cars in 2009.

"Three years away is a long time and a lot has changed. I look at my records and think 'that's bloody shite!' I'm lucky Adam had a team because if you hired off results alone, I'd of been still standing in the dole queue," he jested. "I treat this as a second coming, of sorts. I've found my feet, I've learned from my travels and now I'm back good and proper to the GPVWC to do the job I wanted to do seven years ago."

The Supercup circus moves on to the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a track that Cullen has never driven before. Asked about his prospects, Cullen responded with a wry smile. "Obviously we are all back to square one. Right now we can enjoy this moment. But that is all it is. A moment. Spend too long reflecting and you end up looking back at the 'good ol' days' and trying to convince yourself you are still that same driver."

"It's not going to be easy. Supercup is home to some fantastic drivers, ex-Superleague winners and drivers with time to spare in their back pocket. Taking the fight to these guys is a challenge all by itself. To that I say, bring it on!"