Adam Shepherd paces opening TCR UK practice at Knockhill

Area Motorsport’s Adam Shepherd topped a tight opening TCR UK practice session at Knockhill, edging out Joe Marshall’s Audi by just under a tenth of a second.

Marking the first time the series has visited the Scottish circuit since 2018 when it used the reversed layout, Shepherd set a best time of 51.890 in his Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Marshall, who had a number of lap-times deleted due to track limits exiting the Clark corner right-hander, finished just 0.044s in arrears of Shepherd after a late improvement.

Despite ominous clouds above, the session was run in dry conditions throughout with the lap-times dropping progressively across the 15 minutes.

JH Racing’s Callum Newsham was the early pacesetter in his Hyundai, setting a 52.460 to go some six-tenths of a second quicker than Brad Hutchison’s Bond it with MPHR Audi.

Shepherd then moved to the top of the pile with his best effort which remained for the duration of the session, nearly half a second better than Newsham.

Both Marshall and defending series champion Chris Smiley (Restart Racing Honda Civic Type-R) had times taken away for track limits but the latter improved to set the sixth fastest time at the end of the session.

Rob Boston Racing’s Jac Constable ended up fourth quickest, just under three-tenths shy of Shepherd, with Jenson Brickley completing the top five.

Matt Wilson was seventh in his Cupra León, while Hutchison had to make do with eighth ahead of series points leader Bruce Winfield. Darelle Wilson rounded out the top 10 in his Vauxhall Astra TCR.

Next up for TCR UK is qualifying, which is scheduled to begin at 11:00 local time (12:00 CEST).