Adam Shepherd is the early leader after TCR UK opener at Donington

Capture Motorsport’s Adam Shepherd is the early TCR UK Championship leader after the opening round at Donington Park, having claimed a brace of wins and a third in the trio of races.

Shepherd laid down the early benchmark on Saturday morning when he claimed a convincing pole position ahead of JH Racing’s Callum Newsham by over a tenth of a second.

The opening race then saw Shepherd ease to a lights-to-flag victory ahead of the Area Motorsport duo of Sam and Steve Laidlaw, after early challenger Newsham had to retire from the race with smoke emanating from his Hyundai i30 N due to a power steering failure.

Bradley Hutchison made contact with Steve Laidlaw at the opening corner of the race, resulting in the latter’s CUPRA falling into the gravel. Whilst Laidlaw was able to drag his car out, he was at the back of the pack, although the safety car being called due to the time it took him to get out allowed him to catch up to the back of the field by the end of the next lap.

Hutchison continued to battle with Sam Laidlaw when the racing resumed, but the pair made contact on lap eight and Hutchison lost ground, going wide at the Craner Curves, before retiring a lap later with overheating due to his CUPRA’s radiator being filled with grass.

Sam Laidlaw was unable to close in on leader Shepherd, who won the race by six and a half seconds.

Steve Laidlaw recovered to claim the final podium position, having passed Power Maxed Racing’s Finn Leslie for the place three laps from the finish.

Leslie was thus fourth on his début, ahead of fellow rookie Rod McGovern in fifth.

Alistair Camp had been running in fourth until he had to retire his Hyundai after eight laps due to a fuel pressure issue in his Hyundai.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	117			Adam SHEPHERD	Capture Motorsport with Shepherd Motors	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	20:15.867	1:09.186	1
2	101			Sam LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	6.504	1:09.435	4
3	100			Steve LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	20.958	1:09.425	6
4	26			Finn LESLIE	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	23.724	1:10.307	7
5	8			Rod MCGOVERN	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	38.605	1:10.848	10
6	77			Mark SMITH	BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	39.436	1:10.792	11
7	34			Gregory SAUNDERS	Capture Motorsport AMS Motorcycles	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	40.739	1:11.055	15
8	19			Jeffrey ALDEN	Power Maxed Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	1:07.616	1:13.005	14
9	12			Cedrich BLOCH	SGM Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	1:09.268	1:12.975	13
10	27			Will BEECH	Capture Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	1:11.271	1:11.371	8
11	11			Harry BLOOR	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	+ 3 LAPS	1:11.477	9
NC	28			George JAXON	DW Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	NCF	1:13.414	12
R	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Bond It with MPH Racing	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	8	DNF	1:10.137	5
R	45			Alistair CAMP	Area Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	DNF	1:10.308	3
R	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	4	DNF	1:10.178	2
NS	81			Stewart LINES	Maximum Motorsport with BSR	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–

For the second race of the weekend, and the first of the day on Sunday, Will Beech lined up on pole position in the reverse-grid race, with Cedrich Bloch alongside after the top ten were reversed.

Rain overnight had left the circuit damp, but with no rain falling at the start, half the field elected for slick rubber whilst the other half went for wets. Leading drivers Shepherd, Newsham, Sam Laidlaw and Leslie were amongst those who opted for slicks.

At the start, Beech was able to hold his lead only for the opening lap, as Steve Laidlaw, who had charged from eighth to second on the opening lap, soon caught and passed Beech into McLeans.

Although Shepherd gained four places on the opening lap to sixth, he lost a place on the next lap and spent the first seven laps of the race without making any further progress.

However, on lap eight, those on the slick tyres found their rubber coming into their favour, and Shepherd was quickly up to fourth past Newsham and Camp at the same time when the latter delayed Newsham’s pass at Coppice.

Although Shepherd and Newsham were on the same tyres, Shepherd was clearly enjoying the conditions more, and he passed Gregory Saunders for third through the Craner Curves, before Beech put up no defence of second against his fellow CUPRA racer.

It took Shepherd a further five laps to catch and pass leader Steve Laidlaw, despite his ten-second lead, but when he did he eased into the lead along the back straight.

Newsham quickly followed into second on the next lap, but Shepherd was able to continue to pull clear of the Hyundai and won the race by almost six seconds.

Steve Laidlaw completed the podium in third, nursing his wet tyres home, with Leslie once again finishing in fourth.

Sam Laidlaw was fifth, ahead of the wet-shod Saunders and Beech in sixth and seventh respectively.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	117			Adam SHEPHERD	Capture Motorsport with Shepherd Motors	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	20:18.532	1:11.822	10
2	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	5.877	1:12.200	15
3	100			Steve LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	8.835	1:15.284	8
4	26			Finn LESLIE	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	32.417	1:14.658	7
5	101			Sam LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	34.088	1:13.399	9
6	34			Gregory SAUNDERS	Capture Motorsport AMS Motorcycles	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	37.902	1:17.395	4
7	27			Will BEECH	Capture Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	38.968	1:17.458	1
8	8	T		Rod MCGOVERN	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	39.179	1:13.904	6
9	81			Stewart LINES	Maximum Motorsport with BSR	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	51.048	1:16.631	16
10	19	T		Jeffrey ALDEN	Power Maxed Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	55.068	1:17.709	3
11	28	T		George JAXON	DW Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:21.166	12
12	77	T		Mark SMITH	BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:19.058	5
13	12			Cedrich BLOCH	SGM Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:20.173	2
14	11			Harry BLOOR	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	14	+ 2 LAPS	1:16.435	11
R	45			Alistair CAMP	Area Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	DNF	1:15.037	14
R	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Bond It with MPH Racing	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	4	DNF	1:20.538	13

The final race of the weekend saw Shepherd again line up from pole, with Sam Laidlaw alongside, and the duo held position away from the lights, as further back McGovern stalled his Hyundai on the grid.

Newsham dived inside Sam Laidlaw into the first corner to take second and then went inside Shepherd at the Old Hairpin to take the lead a couple of corners later.

Shepherd tried to fight back into McLeans but spun went off into the gravel, although he was able to get out with some assistance from the marshals.

Exiting the chicane at the end of the lap, Sam Laidlaw then spun out of second on cold tyres and hit the tyres near the pit entrance, allowing his father Steven into second.

At the end of the second lap the safety car was called, due to Sam Laidlaw’s CUPRA remaining stricken at the entrance to the pits and Camp hitting the tyre stack at the chicane and causing a red flag.

After almost 20 minutes the field resumed for a warm-up lap, with Shepherd and the two Laidlaws set to rejoin the race from the pitlane.

However, as the field were weaving to warm their tyres, Cedrich Bloch lost control of his Audi on the run up to McLeans and spun into the wall, causing a further delay.

After another warm-up lap the race resumed with 15 minutes to go and the trio of Shepherd and the two Laidlaws joining from the pits.

Hutchison passed Leslie for second on the run to the first corner, as Shepherd joined the field in 12^th as the leading car emerging from the pitlane.

By lap six, Shepherd was up to fourth, whilst Newsham had extended his advantage over Hutchison to more than five seconds.

Hutchison then dropped out of contention on lap nine with a left-rear puncture, promoting Leslie to second and Shepherd to third.

There were no further changes in the podium positions in the final laps, as Newsham cantered to a seventh career victory in TCR UK ahead of Leslie and Shepherd.

Steve and Sam Laidlaw charged through the field in tandem, taking fourth and fifth respectively at the chequered flag, ahead of Power Maxed’s Harry Bloor in sixth.

Leaving the first Donington Park event, Shepherd is the clear championship leader on 119 points, ahead of Leslie (89) and Steve Laidlaw (88).

The next event takes place on the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit in two weeks’ time.

Race three result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	15:12.135	1:09.208	3
2	26			Finn LESLIE	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	14.048	1:10.088	6
3	117			Adam SHEPHERD	Capture Motorsport with Shepherd Motors	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	17.786	1:09.111	1
4	100			Steve LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	13	27.740	1:09.863	5
5	101			Sam LAIDLAW	Area Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	13	28.239	1:09.821	2
6	11			Harry BLOOR	Power Maxed Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	36.235	1:10.726	9
7	8			Rod MCGOVERN	JH Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	39.706	1:11.325	8
8	34			Gregory SAUNDERS	Capture Motorsport AMS Motorcycles	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	47.896	1:11.857	16
9	27			Will BEECH	Capture Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	48.103	1:10.860	15
10	77			Mark SMITH	BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	49.144	1:11.695	10
11	19			Jeffrey ALDEN	Power Maxed Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	59.371	1:12.789	13
12	28			George JAXON	DW Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	1:00.085	1:12.584	11
13	81			Stewart LINES	Maximum Motorsport with BSR	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	12	+ 1 LAP	1:12.049	14
14	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Bond It with MPH Racing	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	11	+ 2 LAPS	1:10.431	7
R	12			Cedrich BLOCH	SGM Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	0	DNF	N/A	12
NS	45			Alistair CAMP	Area Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	–	DNS	N/A	4