TCR UK Touring Car Championship – Rounds 18, 19 & 20
Silverstone International – 12th & 13th October 2024
Carl Boardley kept a cool head to clinch his second consecutive TCR UK Touring Car Championship title in the season finale at Silverstone last weekend (12-13 October).
The CBM with Hart GT driver withstood the all-out efforts of race winners Callum Newsham and Brad Hutchison to bag the points he needed to become only the second two-time TCR UK champion.
Qualifying
Callum Newsham boosted his title hopes by securing pole positions for Rounds 18 and 20 aboard his JH Racing-run Hyundai i30 N on Saturday morning. The team had worked wonders to prepare the car after its heavy accident at Thruxton just three weeks earlier and Newsham rewarded their efforts by topping the timesheets for the fourth time in seven events.
Newsham, the only driver to record a 100mph lap, was 0.2 seconds faster than Adam Shepherd’s CUPRA Leon Compeiticion, which would start second for both races determined by qualifying times. But despite Shepherd’s pace, there were worrying signs of the fuel-pressure problem that has blighted his season rearing its head again as his session was cut short.
On his first outing of the season, Civic Cup star Alistair Camp was third fastest in his Hyundai, now also run by JH Racing. Second in the standings heading into the event, Brad Hutchison was fourth fastest in his Bond It with MPH Racing CUPRA, its edge blunted by the compensation weight it carried. Hutchison’s second-fastest time was marginally better than Camp’s so they would swap places on the grid for the season finale.
Fifth fastest time was a most impressive performance from debutant Ryan Bensley. The Civic Cup graduate was gelling well with his Motion Motorsport-run Lynk & Co 03, the second example to run in the championship this year, setting a time 1.0s off the ultimate pace.
Knowing he had a healthy points advantage, Carl Boardley was reasonably satisfied to wind up sixth overall and with the fifth-best second-fastest time. Like Hutchison, Boardley was carrying 30kg compensation weight aboard his CUPRA, and had felt the beginnings of what he suspected was a differential issue in Friday testing. But the reigning champion was opting to be cautious and avoid introducing further problems by seeking to address it.
Darron Lewis was seventh fastest in the third JH Racing Hyundai, ahead of Luke Sargeant (RS Vehicle Sales Audi RS3 LMS). Ninth best, despite a moment on Silverstone’s wet grass, was Area Motorsport man Steve Laidlaw on the UK debut of CUPRA’s latest Leon VZ. Son Sam’s sister car was 12th, but both new cars would start at the back of the grid for Round 18, as per series regulations.
That promoted Matthew Wilson (JW Bird Motorsport Leon Competicion) and debutant Andrew Dyer aboard the ex-Laidlaw Hyundai to fill row five of the grid.
Rick Kerry (EDF Motorsport CUPRA TCR) edged Stewart Lines’s Hyundai to 13th fastest time after the latter spun under braking at Vale when rain began to fall in the closing stages. Kerry was leading Gen 1 Cup qualifier, ahead of Mark Smith (Richmond Fire Motorsport CUPRA) and Cedric Bloch (Simon Green Motorsport Audi RS3) who was another to suffer a wild moment as grip levels declined.
SILVERSTONE FINALE QUALIFYING RESULT
Round 18 – Race Report
Shepherd surged into the lead at the start of Saturday’s race, followed by all three championship contenders. Newsham slotted into second, while Hutchison and Boardley took advantage of Camp’s and Bensley’s lack of experience in their cars to jump into third and fourth.
The cool conditions were making it difficult to get the Goodyear slick tyres up to temperature, and both Camp and Bensley slipped back further with some sideways moments. But Bensley soon hit back to dive past Lewis at Village and take fifth position on the second of 18 laps. He would soon begin to put pressure on Boardley too.
Out front, Shepherd resisted the early attentions of Newsham before edging clear to build a lead of over a second, with neither of the ballasted CUPRAs able to keep pace. The Area Motorsport with Shepherd Motors driver set fastest lap and looked set to end a four-month victory drought, only to suffer heartbreak yet again.
In the last couple of laps, Shepherd’s CUPRA began to lose pace on the straights as it misfired. Newsham sensed an opportunity. The Hampshire-based driver closed in and swept past as his devastated rival ran deep into the Club chicane on the final lap.
So Newsham snared his fifth win of the season, while Shepherd was at least able to limp home second on this occasion. Hutchison was more than 15s back in third, but crucially still chipped into Boardley’s points advantage.
Bensley’s impressive effort put him briefly into fourth as he dived past Boardley at Abbey on the final lap, only for Boardley to hit back through the next sequence and reclaim the position, limiting the points loss to his rivals.
Fifth was still an impressive result for the debutant, ahead of Camp who snatched sixth from team-mate Lewis on the final lap. The latter had been hampered by damage picked up when he lost out to Bensley early on but still took Goodyear Diamond Award honours.
Steve Laidlaw was running seventh when his Leon VZ cut out at around two-thirds distance, so the top 10 was completed by Sargeant, Sam Laidlaw and Wilson, ahead of Dyer and Lines.
Kerry led the way in the Gen 1 Cup despite a misfire, but suffered a driveshaft issue in the closing stages. He tried to limp home but was ultimately defeated. So it was the inspirational Bloch, using hand controls aboard his Audi, who took a first Gen 1 Cup win on only his second appearance, ahead of Mark Smith’s oversteering CUPRA.
SILVERSTONE FINALE ROUND 18 RESULT
Round 19 – Race Report
The middle race of each weekend always features a grid based on a reversal of the top 10 finishers from the opening race. And so it was Wilson who would start from pole position, with an increasingly confident Sam Laidlaw alongside. Sargeant, Lewis, Camp and Bensley filled rows two and three ahead of the three championship contenders and interloper Shepherd. Unfortunately, the popular pre-race public gridwalk had to be cancelled after delays to the timetable from earlier races.
When the action got under way, Wilson converted pole position into the race lead as a number of drivers struggled to get off the line. Sargeant moved into second, before Bensley got in front, while a terrific start from Newsham launched him into fourth. Newsham survived a challenge from Hutchison at Village, with Shepherd then taking advantage to snatch fifth.
A lap later, Bensley dived ahead of Wilson to take the lead, with Newsham, Shepherd and Sargeant following through. Further back, contact with Kerry led to Dyer’s retirement and his stranded Hyundai brought out the safety car – a chance to draw breath after the hectic opening sequence.
Bensley led the queue under caution, from Newsham, Shepherd, Sargeant and Wilson. Lewis was sixth, ahead of Hutchison, while Boardley’s ultra-cautious start left him eighth.
If Bensley was nervous about controlling a safety-car restart on his TCR debut, he didn’t show it. He timed his getaway well but then, perhaps opting for caution, was passed by both Newsham and Shepherd at Village. From there, what was looking set to be a dream debut began to crumble. The Norfolk racer fended off Sargeant but lost out to Hutchison’s challenge just after half-distance. The orange Lynk & Co ended up in the barriers, its weekend run.
Out front, Newsham ran slightly wide at Chapel after passing Bensley. That allowed Shepherd alongside down the Hangar Straight and he seized the chance to move in front. Bensley’s rearguard action behind allowed the front two to escape but Shepherd’s mechanical dramas returned to deny him again. The CUPRA slowed before mid-distance and Shepherd was forced to retire.
So Newsham took a dominant win, with Hutchison some 12.5s back in second, while Sargeant was overjoyed to secure his maiden podium finish. Boardley, who’d kept a watching brief on all the action unfolding in front, passed Lewis mid-race and then shadowed Sargeant to the flag as the latter struggled for brakes in the closing stages.
Lewis beat Steve Laidlaw to Goodyear Diamond Award honours in fifth and sixth overall. Having just stepped out of his race-winning Civic, Camp chased Steve home, while Sam Laidlaw was eighth, ahead of Wilson and Lines.
Ricky Kerry, who in Will Beech’s absence had clinched the Gen 1 Cup title a day earlier, took a comfortable victory in the class ahead of Bloch and Smith.
SILVERSTONE FINALE ROUND 19 RESULT
Round 20 – Race Report
The second race result left Newsham and Hutchison tied on points, both 33 down on Boardley. With 40 points on offer for victory, it would take something dramatic to deny the Suffolk man a second title, but stranger things have happened, and both were going to give it their best shot.
Sadly, Newsham’s hopes evaporated within seconds of lights-out. After a relatively long hold on the lights, his Hyundai’s clutch cried enough and what had been a slim title chance now disappeared.
Shepherd seized the initiative and immediately opened a gap to Hutchison that stood at 3s within a lap. A cracking start from Steve Laidlaw fired him into third from row five of the grid, ahead of Camp, while Boardley slotted into fifth, knowing that he needed only to finish in the top 11 to secure the title.
Hutchison eased clear of Laidlaw, whose mirrors were full of Camp’s Hyundai, but he had no answer to Shepherd’s pace out front. He didn’t need one. Almost inevitably, Shepherd’s wretched luck returned and the CUPRA’s pace slowed. Shepherd’s telltale weaving signalled its fuel starvation and he slipped down the order before cruising in to retire on lap 11 of 18.
Now Hutchison was in front, but in a race of attrition, there were no longer enough cars running to deny Boardley the crown, assuming that the reigning champion finished.
Hutchison took an untroubled victory and could be proud of his and MPHR’s efforts. But Boardley’s careful run to an eventual fourth, despite managing an additional vibration, was more than enough to make him a two-time champion.
Five race wins and nine further podiums demonstrated Boardley’s strong pace throughout the year, and just as impressive was his relentless consistency. He finished every single race and only twice was outside the top four. There could be no doubt he was a thoroughly deserving champion.
The ever-enthusiastic Steve Laidlaw was delighted to have held off Camp and finish the race in second (and take Goodyear Diamond Award honours), having thoroughly enjoyed their clean battle. Camp himself crossed the line third but knew he had a 10s penalty incoming – his car’s air jacks got stuck while on the grid which meant his mechanics were too late clearing the track.
That dropped Camp to fifth and promoted Sargeant – the Carless Fuels Driver of the Weekend – to another podium, as well as Boardley. Sam Laidlaw completed the top six ahead of Wilson.
Driveshaft failure rendered Goodyear Diamond Award champion Lewis among the retirements, leaving Gen 1 Cup duo Smith and Bloch as the only other finishers.
SILVERSTONE FINALE ROUND 20 RESULT
2024 TCR UK TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Driver Quotes
Two-time TCR UK champion, Carl Boardley
“It’s been a bit of a struggle today and this weekend. I didn’t have anything like the pace Callum [Newsham] had, and Adam [Shepherd]. We knew what was wrong on the Friday but we didn’t really want to change too much, just in case we went and messed it up. So we were nursing it through.
“But it’s just a case of using your head, picking your battles, letting people go when you don’t need to have a race, and bringing it home – and making it worthwhile for everyone that supports me.”
Round 20 winner and TCR UK championship runner-up, Brad Hutchison
“Carl [Boardley] didn’t win the championship today – he won it with every round this year. We got close though, we came close. I think we can be proud of that.”
Rounds 18 and 19 winner and TCR UK third in the championship, Callum Newsham
“That was all I could do really – win the race. Our car is mint this weekend.”
Next time – Donington Park National – The 2025 Season Opener!
The 2025 TCR UK Touring Car Championship begins on the 22nd & 23rd of March, 2025, with the new season getting underway at Donington Park in Leicestershire, using the National layout.
To find out more about the TCR UK Touring Car Championship visit https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/ for more information and how to get involved.
To learn more about the 2025 TCR UK Touring Car Championship Calendar events, visit https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2025-calendar/ for more information.
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