Carl Boardley ended the Silverstone TCR UK weekend with two race victories after all, after adding to his reinstated win with a race three victory on Sunday, after Bradley Hutchison claimed the race two honours.
Boardley had yesterday been excluded from race one, which he won on the road, for contact with title rival Adam Shepherd, only to be reinstated in first on Sunday morning after the decision was deemed to be too harsh.
It was instead converted into a ten-place grid penalty for race two, putting the CUPRA driver at the back of the grid for what was to be an eventful race.
Race two
Before the race even began there was drama, as Will Beech’s Volkswagen had to be removed from the grid due to a mechanical issue, whilst Shepherd was wheeled off the grid to start from the pitlane due to an issue with his CUPRA.
At the start, reverse grid pole-sitter Bradley Thurston led from Owen Hillman’s Lynk & Co, but the latter then took the lead at Woodcote as the pack went four-wide heading onto the second lap.
Hutchison emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the intense scrapping, slotting into third at the start of the second lap, from eighth on the grid.
Hutchison gained another place at the end of the lap, as Boardley found himself spun at Luffield having only just got into the top ten.
Steve Laidlaw then nerfed Thurston’s Honda out of third at Becketts, whilst further around the lap Hutchison took the lead from Hillman into Luffield.
The safety car was then called due to Thurston’s car being stranded in the gravel, but not before his team-mate Will Powell had a huge roll at Woodcote corner, bringing out the red flags.
After almost 20 minutes under stoppage, the race resumed with a safety car restart, with just under nine minutes of racing remaining.
Callum Newsham wasted no time in passing Hillman for second exiting Copse, but couldn’t ultimately chase down and pass Hutchison, who went on to score his second win in the series by less than half a second from Newsham.
Boardley, meanwhile, was up to seventh with five minutes remaining, but the reigning champion was comfortably quicker than many cars ahead, benefitting when Hillman spun his Lynk & Co out of third on lap six of the restart.
Boardley then passed Matthew Wilson for fourth three laps from the finish, which went on to become third after Steve Laidlaw was excluded from the result for the earlier contact with Thurston.
Wilson claimed fourth, his second-best result in the series, ahead of Darron Lewis in fifth and the leading Audi of Luke Sargeant in sixth.
Race two result
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 17 | Bradley HUTCHISON | BOND IT with MPHR | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 12:37.072 | 58.695 | 8 | ||
2 | 16 | Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 0.339 | 58.537 | 9 | ||
3 | 1 | Carl BOARDLEY | CBM with Hart GT | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 7.331 | 58.488 | 17 | ||
4 | 31 | Matthew WILSON | JW Bird Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 9.278 | 59.344 | 5 | ||
5 | 285 | Darron LEWIS | DLR with JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 9.726 | 59.025 | 6 | ||
6 | 115 | Luke SARGEANT | RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 12.109 | 58.968 | 4 | ||
7 | 81 | Stewart LINES | Maximum Motorsport with Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 12.664 | 59.299 | 14 | ||
8 | 117 | Adam SHEPHERD | Area Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 23.042 | 1:00.247 | 13 | ||
9 | 22 | Rick KERRY | EDF Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 23.441 | 1:00.490 | 10 | ||
10 | 70 | Owen HILLMAN | Pro Alloys Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 25.284 | 59.220 | 3 | ||
11 | 19 | Jeffrey ALDEN | Matrix Motorsport with DW Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 26.496 | 1:00.704 | 16 | ||
12 | 27 | Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 26.803 | 59.848 | 11 | ||
R | 12 | Cedrich BLOCH | Simon Green Motorsport with Sport77 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:01.381 | 12 | ||
R | 101 | Sam LAIDLAW | Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:29.311 | 2 | ||
R | 28 | Bradley THURSTON | Go-Fix Honda by Sport77 | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 1 | ||
R | 7 | Will POWELL | Go-Fix Honda by Sport77 | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 15 | ||
EX | 100 | Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 12.101 | 59.320 | 7 |
Race three
Shepherd started from pole for the final race of the day, having bagged the second fastest time in qualifying, with Boardley alongside. The latter claimed the lead into the first corner, as behind them brief championship leader Newsham hit Hutchison whilst attempting to pass for third into Copse, ending the former’s race on the spot.
Hutchison dropped to eighth, whilst at the end of the lap Shepherd reclaimed the lead from Boardley into Luffield.
Shepherd appeared to be in control of the race at the front, heading Boardley by half a second or so until lap ten when his front splitter began flapping at the front.
Boardley soon passed the damaged CUPRA, and a few laps later Shepherd’s situation worsened when the vibrations damaged his wheelarch and forced him into the pits.
At the front, with Shepherd gone, Boardley went on to claim a comfortable victory by over ten seconds from Lewis, with Steve Laidlaw completing the podium.
Victory for Boardley as his rivals faltered means he now holds 478 points at the top of the championship standings, ahead of Newsham (418) and Hutchison (390).
Hutchison went on to salvage fourth by the end of the race, ahead of Sargeant and Wilson.
The next event sees the first visit for the series to Thruxton in just over a month’s time.
Race three result
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 1 | Carl BOARDLEY | CBM with Hart GT | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 20:38.240 | 58.399 | 2 | ||
2 | 285 | Darron LEWIS | DLR with JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 10.268 | 58.775 | 7 | ||
3 | 100 | Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 10.889 | 58.956 | 5 | ||
4 | 17 | Bradley HUTCHISON | BOND IT with MPHR | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 11.532 | 58.920 | 3 | ||
5 | 115 | Luke SARGEANT | RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 21 | 13.675 | 58.917 | 6 | ||
6 | 31 | Matthew WILSON | JW Bird Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 19.549 | 59.007 | 9 | ||
7 | 81 | Stewart LINES | Maximum Motorsport with Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 35.037 | 58.950 | 13 | ||
8 | 70 | Owen HILLMAN | Pro Alloys Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 40.301 | 59.681 | 11 | ||
9 | 27 | Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 21 | 43.730 | 59.921 | 15 | ||
10 | 22 | Rick KERRY | EDF Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 21 | 48.272 | 1:00.329 | 14 | ||
11 | 117 | Adam SHEPHERD | Area Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | + 1 LAP | 58.426 | 1 | ||
R | 101 | Sam LAIDLAW | Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | DNF | 58.931 | 8 | ||
R | 19 | Jeffrey ALDEN | Matrix Motorsport with DW Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | DNF | N/A | 16 | ||
R | 16 | Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 4 | ||
R | 12 | Cedrich BLOCH | Simon Green Motorsport with Sport77 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 17 | ||
NS | 7 | Will POWELL | Go-Fix Honda by Sport77 | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 10 | ||
NS | 28 | Bradley THURSTON | Go-Fix Honda by Sport77 | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 12 |