Adam Shepherd takes all in TCR UK at Oulton Park

With pole position and two race wins at Oulton Park, Adam Shepherd has further strengthened his leadership in the TCR UK standings.

The Capture Motorsport driver took a lights-to-flag victory in Race 1, then inherited the win in Race 2 thanks to the penalty imposed to Steven Laidlaw. With a loot of six race wins, four of them in the last two events, Shepherd has built a comfortable lead of 40 points over JH Racing’s Callum Newsham, while Sam Laidlaw is still in third position with a gap of 83 points.

Race 1 – Shepherd had been fastest in Qualifying, beating Sam Laidlaw by 60 thousandths. From the pole, Shepherd led ahead of Sam Laidlaw and Bradley Hutchison, while Steven Laidlaw stalled on P3 and joined at the back of the field. During the first lap, Newsham overtook Finn Leslie advancing to fourth. In lap 4, Harry Bloor went off and the safety car was deployed two laps later to recover his Hyundai i30 N from the gravel. Racing resumed in lap 9, with Shepherd who was able to pull away while behind him the battle for the second place saw Hutchison and Newsham overtaking Sam Laidlaw. The top positions remained frozen, while Steven Laidlaw recovered to finish sixth.

Race 2 – Mark Smith and Rob McGovern shared the front row of the reversed grid, but Steven Laidlaw sprinted from P5 on the grid and stole the lead from McGovern during the opening lap. McGovern was soon passed by Newsham and then by Leslie. The leading trio opened a gap, while the battle for the fourth position saw Hutchison, Shepherd and Sam Laidlaw all passing McGovern in lap 3. One lap later, Shepherd overtook Hutchison and closed in on the leaders. He passed Leslie for third in lap 7, then Newsham in lap 11. During the final few laps Shepherd was chasing Steven Laidlaw but then settled in second position after he was informed that the leader was given a five-second penalty for track limits. Therefore, Shepherd won from Newsham and Hutchison, while Laidlaw was classified fourth.

The championship’s next and penultimate event will be at Snetterton on September 13/14.

Race 1

1. Adam Shepherd (Capture Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 12 laps
2. Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 3.591
3. Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 4.161

Race 2

1. Adam Shepherd (Capture Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 14 laps
2. Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 0.537
3. Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 4.392

Championship points

1. A. Shepherd, 435 pts; 2. C. Newsham, 395; 3. Sa. Laidlaw, 352

Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey