Newsham and Hutchison win at Silverstone as Boardley seals title
Callum Newsham and Bradley Hutchison won the final three races of the 2024 TCR UK and ensured the drivers’ title went to the final race of the year, but a conservative run to fourth for Carl Boardley assured him of his second consecutive crown.
Boardley won the title with 611 points, 20 clear of Hutchison, with Newsham 60 points behind in third.
Race 1 – Newsham started on pole ahead of Adam Shepherd but dropped a position at the start with Shepherd taking the lead. On lap 2, Ryan Bensley, on his TCR debut, overtook Darron Lewis for fifth and then closed on championship leader Boardley. In lap 12, Steve Laidlaw, who’d gone from last to seventh after having to start at the back for changing car to the latest CUPRA Leon VZ, stopped on circuit, but was able to position the car so a safety car wasn’t required.
On the final lap, Bensley made a dive on Boardley at Village and briefly took fourth, before Boardley snatched the position back at the exit. Up front, at the final corner, race leader Shepherd’s CUPRA suffered a return of the misfire issue that’s been plaguing him all season, allowing Newsham to blast past and claim a critical win.
Race 2 – On the reversed grid, Matthew Wilson was on pole and got away well at the start. Behind him, Luke Sargeant moved up into second from third on the grid, while Bensley launched from sixth to third. Bensley then overtook Sargeant before taking the lead from Wilson at Becketts at the start of lap two, with Wilson then quickly sliding down the order behind the chasing group now led by Newsham from Shepherd, Sargeant, and Lewis. The safety car was called as Andrew Dyer’s Hyundai needed rescuing after an incident with Rick Kerry’s CUPRA. When the race restarted, Newsham passed Bensley for the lead at Village, with Shepherd following him straight through to move up to second. Shepherd then passed Newsham for the lead at Stowe, but this lasted for just a lap before Shepherd’s engine troubles returned and he slowed. Bensley’s race then came to an end after an incident with Hutchison at Becketts, with Bensley’s Lynk & Co crashing out with broken steering and sustaining significant damage, which put him out of the final race. Hutchison passed Sargeant for second, while Sargeant defended against Boardley and secured his first ever podium.
Newsham and Hutchison were tied in second in the standings and mathematically could still win the title but needed Boardley to retire while they needed a top two result.
Race 3 – Newsham started on pole but unfortunately his title chances were over straight away when the driveshaft failed on his Hyundai i30, and he crawled back to the pits to retire. Shepherd now assumed the lead ahead of Hutchison, who was the last driver who could stop Boardley winning a second consecutive title. Shepherd’s car spluttered as usual on lap 8 and retired, as Hutchison inherited the lead ahead of Laidlaw who was fighting to keep back Alistair Camp. Boardley now just needed to finish thanks to the high attrition of the race and driver allowed Sargeant past, without a challenge on lap 3. Hutchison cruised to an easy victory ahead of Laidlaw, while Camp picked up a track limits penalty which dropped him two positions at the finish behind Sargeant and the newly-confirmed champion Boardley.
Silverstone – Race 1
- Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 18 laps
- Adam Shepherd (Area Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.590
- Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 16.099
Silverstone – Race 2
- Callum Newsham (JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 16 laps
- Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 12.511
- Luke Sargeant (RS Vehicle Sales, Audi RS 3 LMS), 16.313
Silverstone – Race 3
- Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 18 laps
- Steven Laidlaw (Area Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 2.331
- Luke Sargeant (RS Vehicle Sales, Audi RS 3 LMS), 5.595
Championship points
- C. Boardley, 611 pts; 2. B. Hutchison, 591; 3. C. Newsham, 551
Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey
