Shepherd and Boardley share honours at Oulton Park

Adam Shepherd and Carl Boardley shared honours in TCR UK’s third event of the season at Oulton Park.

Boardley, the defending champion, claimed pole position and won the first race after some thrilling battles with Shepherd, Joe Marshall and Bradley Hutchison. Shepherd took revenge in a red-flag-disrupted Race 2, keeping Boardley at bay. A seesaw of decisions saw Shepherd stripped of the victory and eventually reinstated.

Shepherd has retained the leadership in the standings, 28 points clear of Boardley, with Callum Newsham third, 67 points adrift.

Race 1 – Boardley led from the pole and rejected the assaults of Shepherd during the first few laps. His car slightly damaged, Shepherd dropped behind Hutchison, while Marshall advanced to fourth after making contact with Newsham who spun off. Marshall jumped both Shepherd and Hutchison and then closed in on Boardley, but the latter held on to the lead, beating Marshall by four tenths.

Race 2 – A series of collisions at the start resulted in a red flag. Shepherd spun off onto the gravel, while the cars of Marshall, Beech and Alden were damaged beyond repairs. When the race restarted behind the safety car, Stewart Lines, who had the pole of the reversed grid, led from a few laps before the was passed by the chasing pack. Shepherd recovered to take the lead and crossed the line ahead of Boardley, Darron Lewis and Newsham.

After the race, Shepherd was demoted to sixth by a 10-second penalty because his crew had worked on the grid, however the penalty was later removed, and he was reinstated as the winner.

The championship will resume at Croft on 13/14 July.

Oulton Park – Race 1

1. Carl Boardley (CBM Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 14 laps
2. Joe Marshall (Rob Boston Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.464
3. Bradley Hutchison (MPH Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 7.022

Oulton Park – Race 2

1. Adam Shepherd (Area Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 9 laps
2. Carl Boardley (CBM Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.475
3. Darron Lewis (DLR/JH Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 1.484

Championship points

1. A. Shepherd, 294 pts; 2. C. Boardley, 266; 3. C. Newsham, 227.

Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey