Photo: TCR UK

Adam Shepherd secures victory in Snetterton finale

By

Adam Shepherd saw off the determined challenge of Joe Marshall to secure victory in the final TCR UK Championship race of the weekend at Snetterton.

Shepherd had topped the times ahead of Marshall in qualifying before taking a relatively straightforward win in race one – helped by the fact that Marshall had been unable to take the start.

Race three would prove to be a different affair entirely however, with Shepherd forced to fend off the advances of Marshall at the start to retain the lead going into turn one for the first time.

Shepherd was able to build a slender advantage over his rival but Marshall was able to come back at the Cupra racer, closing in before trying to make a move at Agostini. Shepherd fended off the advances of the Audi racer and when Marshall then made a small error and ran slightly wide onto the grass, it gave Shepherd enough of a buffer to score a second victory of the weekend by 1.6s.

The race would be largely devoid of action towards the front of the field, with little in the way of overtaking after the opening corners.

Defending champion Carl Boardley ran third in the early stages of the race before being overhauled by fellow Cupra racer Brad Hutchison, who backed up his fine win in race two with a third podium finish of the weekend by repeating his race one result, with Boardley left to settle for fourth spot.

Callum Newsham, points leader coming into the weekend, ran in fifth throughout having been unable to keep pace with the battling Cupra duo ahead but was never at serious risk of being challenged by Luke Sargeant, who took sixth.

Arguably the battle of the race would be right at the tail of the Gen2 runners, with debutant Steve Laidlaw and Darron Lewis enjoying a titanic fight for seventh in the early stages before Lewis managed to get ahead.

Once clear, he raced away from his fellow Hyundai man to take the place with Laidlaw settling for eighth ahead of Gen1 Cup winner Will Beech, who kept the Cupra of local racer Rick Kerry at bay throughout.