Boardley wins twice at incident-packed Silverstone race meeting
Defending champion Carl Boardley picked up two wins in a weekend which saw a number of controversial incidents at the Silverstone National circuit, while Bradley Hutchison took his second ever career win in Race 2.
Boardley now leads the standings on 478 points before dropping scores, with Callum Newsham 60 points behind. Hutchison and Adam Shepherd follow with gaps of 88 and 114 points respectively. However, because Boardley is the one who has to drop the highest scores, all four drivers are still in contention for the title.
Race 1 - Shepherd had secured the pole by just two-thousandths of a second ahead of Boardley who had a good start and went ahead into Copse, but Shepherd came back at him, and they made contact. Shepherd was sent across the grass and rejoined at Becketts, forcing the Honda of Will Powell into the gravel trap, which brought out the safety car. Shepherd pitted with a punctured tyre and rejoined on the lead lap. After the restart, Boardley was leading ahead of Steve Laidlaw who was soon passed by both Newsham and Hutchison. Newsham closed on Boardley and applied pressure, but the leader held on to win.
After the race, Boardley was excluded for the incident with Shepherd, but he won the appeal and was reinstated as the winner, though with a ten-place grid penalty which put him at the back for Race 2. Shepherd had finished seventh but was given a 15-second penalty for passing Cedric Bloch before the restart and dropped to 15th.
Race 2 – Pole-sitter Bradley Thurston led into T1 ahead of debutant Owen Hillman who took the lead at Woodcote. Hutchison passed Thurston on lap 2 for second, while Boardley, already up into the top ten after a lightning start, was spun at Luffield after contact with Steve Laidlaw. On lap 3, Newsham moved up to third, passing Thurston at Copse, before Laidlaw clambered into the back of Thurston’s car at Becketts sending him off, and the safety car was called. The race was then red-flagged because Will Powell’s Honda rolled after being hit by another car. Boardley benefitted from the red flag to pit and replace a broken wheel, while Shepherd’s team had time to fix his engine issue.
Hutchison led at the restart having got past Hillman just before the safety car had been called. Newsham overtook Hillman for second before the latter spun out of third place on his own. Boardley was flying and passed Matthew Wilson for fourth place on lap 9. Hutchison went on to win despite intense pressure from Newsham on the final two laps, while Laidlaw crossed the line third, but was given a five-second track limits penalty which gave the final podium spot to Boardley. Laidlaw was later excluded from the race for the incident with Thurston.
Race 3 – Shepherd was on pole due to the second fastest time from qualifying ahead of Boardley, with Hutchison and Newsham both on row two. Shepherd had a slow start and Boardley took the lead, while Newsham and Hutchison made contact on the way to Copse. Newsham picked up front-left damage and retired, while Hutchison dropped to eighth. At the end of the first lap, Shepherd overtook Boardley for the lead, and the two began to pull away. On lap 10, Shepherd’s splitter came loose, and he was passed by Boardley before the damage broke the wheel arch forcing Shepherd to pit for repairs. Laidlaw was up to second before he was passed by Darron Lewis in lap 18.
The championship will resume at Thruxton on 21/22 September.
Silverstone – Race 1
- Carl Boardley (CBM Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 16 laps
- Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 0.303
- Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 1.680
Silverstone – Race 2
- Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
- Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 0.339
- Carl Boardley (CBM Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 7.331
Silverstone – Race 3
- Carl Boardley (CBM Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 21 laps
- Darron Lewis (DLR/JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 10.268
- Steven Laidlaw (Area Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 10.889
Championship points
- C. Boardley, 478 pts; 2. C. Newsham, 418; 3. B. Hutchison, 390
Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey
