Callum Newsham closed in on the lead of the TCR UK series with his fourth victory of the season at a damp Thruxton, as Steve Laidlaw scored a second successive podium finish with second.
Newsham had earlier qualified his Hyundai i30 on pole positon at the Hampshire speedbowl, over half a second clear of the CUPRA of Adam Shepherd.
At the start, Newsham eased into the lead as Shepherd proved to be his main challenger early on, sniffing a chance of the lead when Newsham made a mistake at the chicane at the end of the second lap.
However, Shepherd’s challenge quickly faltered, as the Area Motorsport driver found himself slowing from second on the fourth lap, with seemingly a recurrence of the fuel pressure problems which had affected him earlier in the day.
That promoted Steve Laidlaw into second, who had earlier got the jump on fellow CUPRA racer Carl Boardley at the start.
Laidlaw couldn’t take the fight to Newsham and ultimately finished over five seconds behind, as Newsham scored the first win of the weekend.
Boardley completed the podium, ahead of the CUPRA of Bradley Hutchison in fourth.
Darron Lewis had a good start and was challenging for fourth on the opening lap, but after clattering the kerb at the complex he lost momentum and had to slot in to sixth, which ultimately became fifth with Shepherd’s demise in a race which featured little action later on.
Sam Laidlaw brought his Hyundai home in sixth, ahead of Will Beech’s Volkswagen, Rick Kerry’s CUPRA in eighth, Stewart Lines’ Hyundai in ninth and Mark Smtih’s CUPRA in tenth, with no other drivers finishing the race.
Victory for Newsham moves him to four points from series leader Boardley after dropped scores are taken into account. Boardley continues to lead with 461 points, ahead of Newsham (457), Hutchison (413) and Shepherd (369).
Races two and three are scheduled to take place on Sunday at 15:10 and 17:30 BST respectively.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 16 |  |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 21:16.489 | 1:23.960 | 1 | |
| 2 | 100 | |
Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 15 | 5.196 | 1:23.804 | 4 | |
| 3 | 1 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | CBM with Hart GT | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 15 | 5.995 | 1:23.821 | 3 | |
| 4 | 17 | |
Bradley HUTCHISON | BOND IT with MPHR | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 15 | 18.755 | 1:24.770 | 6 | |
| 5 | 285 | |
Darron LEWIS | DLR with JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 19.353 | 1:24.742 | 7 | |
| 6 | 101 | |
Sam LAIDLAW | Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 20.095 | 1:24.671 | 5 | |
| 7 | 27 | |
Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 15 | 41.105 | 1:26.505 | 8 | |
| 8 | 22 | |
Rick KERRY | EDF Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 15 | 41.302 | 1:26.313 | 9 | |
| 9 | 81 | |
Stewart LINES | Maximum Motorsport with Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 41.888 | 1:25.724 | 12 | |
| 10 | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 15 | 50.700 | 1:26.863 | 10 | |
| R | 115 | |
Luke SARGEANT | RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | DNF | 1:26.869 | 11 | |
| R | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Area Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:23.543 | 2 |