TCR UK newcomer Bradley Burns won twice on the road at Donington Park, but lost both wins due to false start penalties, allowing Bradley Hutchison and Sam Laidlaw to instead claim the victories.
Burns, returning to TCR competition for the first time since he took part in TCR Germany in 2019, was immediately on the pace in his Area Motorsport-run Audi, claiming pole position around the Grand Prix circuit by a tenth and a half over Adam Shepherd on Saturday.
Race one
Starting from pole position for the opening race, Burns appeared to creep before the lights went out, having never made a standing start in the second-generation RS3.
Although he moved into a clear lead when the lights went out, the damage was done and Burns found himself being hit with a ten-second penalty for the false start by halfway through the race.
Behind him, Hutchison had moved in front of Shepherd at the start, whilst JH Racing’s Callum Newsham tried to claim third around the outside at Turn 1, but had to back off.
On the second lap, Newsham made contact with Steve Laidlaw heading into Coppice, which saw the latter skip through the gravel and drop to the back of the field.
A few corners later, Newsham was then caught out by Sam Laidlaw’s braking into the Melbourne hairpin, bumping into the back of the CUPRA and spinning him to the back of the field.
Alistair Camp took advantage and moved into fourth, before Newsham reclaimed the place into the hairpin a lap later. Camp would then pit with mechanical issues a lap later.
There were few changes in the order at the front thereafter, and on the road Burns took the chequered flag first by just over five seconds from Hutchison, but it wasn’t enough, allowing the MPH Racing driver to take his first win of the season.
Shepherd was second, with Newsham completing the podium after a substantially quicker final lap than Burns, who was classified in fourth. However, Newsham was later penalised for contact with both Laidlaws, having 24 seconds added to his race tim and dropping him to ninth.
Steve Laidlaw recovered to claim a creditable fourth after his earlier off-track excursion, ahead of the Lynk & Co of Ryan Bensley in fifth, who had also been off through the gravel on the sixth lap.
Power Maxed Racing’s Finn Leslie brought his Hyundai home in sixth, ahead of Luke Sargeant, making his first race start of the year, in seventh.
Sam Laidlaw recovered to eighth ahead of Newsham in ninth and youngster Harry Bloor in tenth.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 17 |  |
Bradley HUTCHISON | Bond It with MPH Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 20:31.824 | 1:33.713 | 3 | |
| 2 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Capture Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 2.256 | 1:33.932 | 2 | |
| 3 | 6 | |
Bradley BURNS | Area Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 5.428 | 1:33.444 | 1 | |
| 4 | 100 | |
Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 16.428 | 1:33.908 | 6 | |
| 5 | 111 | |
Ryan BENSLEY | Motion Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 13 | 17.278 | 1:34.300 | 8 | |
| 6 | 26 | |
Finn LESLIE | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 21.544 | 1:35.199 | 9 | |
| 7 | 115 | |
Luke SARGEANT | Vannin Motorsport with RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 25.093 | 1:34.196 | 10 | |
| 8 | 101 | |
Sam LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 27.404 | 1:33.250 | 4 | |
| 9 | 16 | |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 28.335 | 1:34.002 | 5 | |
| 10 | 11 | |
Harry BLOOR | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 33.750 | 1:35.787 | 11 | |
| 11 | 81 | |
Stewart LINES | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 38.565 | 1:35.833 | 16 | |
| 12 | 27 | |
Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 40.540 | 1:35.788 | 12 | |
| 13 | 28 | |
George JAXON | Vannin Motorsport with DW Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 48.812 | 1:35.971 | 15 | |
| 14 | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 50.458 | 1:36.732 | 13 | |
| 15 | 34 | |
Gregory SAUNDERS | Capture Motorsport AMS Motorcycles | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 56.927 | 1:37.184 | 14 | |
| R | 45 | |
Alistair CAMP | Area Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:34.110 | 7 |
Race two
Youngster Bloor started the second race from pole position on the reversed grid, but stalled away from the line, allowing Sam Laidlaw into the lead thanks to some quick reactions from third.
Newsham would have started from second on the front row but had pitted at the end of the formation lap with sheared wheel studs on his Hyundai, dropping him out of contention.
Burns had made a fast start to move ahead of Leslie for third by McLeans corner, quickly closing in on Sargeant, also in an Audi, for second.
Burns made the pass for second into the first corner on lap two and quickly pulled clear of Sargeant, as Shepherd followed into third half a lap later.
It took a couple of laps for Burns to close in on Sam Laidlaw’s early advantage, but in the end there was no thrilling battle for the lead as Sam Laidlaw lost the back end of his CUPRA through the chicane on the fifth lap and had to save a huge slide, gifting the lead to Burns in the process.
Although Burns would take the chequered flag in first for the second time in a day, after the race he was given another ten-second time penalty for a false start and dropped to third.
That meant Sam Laidlaw did claim his maiden TCR UK race win despite his earlier slide, with Shepherd also promoted to second, albeit a distant 5.4 seconds behind Laidlaw.
Burns claimed third for the second time in a day, ahead of Hutchison in fourth.
From the back of the grid, Camp put in a determined drive to fifth in his Hyundai, ahead of the Lynk & Co of Bensley in sixth, whilst Sargeant slipped back later in the race to seventh.
Steve Laidlaw started the race from the pits and couldn’t replicate the recovery drive he put in in the first race, taking tenth due to an apparent issue with his CUPRA.
Shepherd continues to lead the drivers’ standings with 195 points ahead of Sam Laidlaw (150) and Steve Laidlaw (133).
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 101 | |
Sam LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 20:34.827 | 1:33.815 | 3 | |
| 2 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Capture Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 5.498 | 1:34.233 | 9 | |
| 3 | 6 | |
Bradley BURNS | Area Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 6.312 | 1:33.500 | 8 | |
| 4 | 17 | |
Bradley HUTCHISON | Bond It with MPH Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 10.265 | 1:34.262 | 10 | |
| 5 | 45 | |
Alistair CAMP | Area Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 15.930 | 1:33.941 | 16 | |
| 6 | 111 | |
Ryan BENSLEY | Motion Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 13 | 16.713 | 1:34.690 | 6 | |
| 7 | 115 | |
Luke SARGEANT | Vannin Motorsport with RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 17.593 | 1:34.904 | 4 | |
| 8 | 26 | |
Finn LESLIE | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 26.246 | 1:35.713 | 5 | |
| 9 | 27 | |
Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 26.998 | 1:35.421 | 12 | |
| 10 | 100 | |
Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 28.179 | 1:34.788 | 7 | |
| 11 | 81 | |
Stewart LINES | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 36.169 | 1:35.861 | 11 | |
| 12 | 28 | |
George JAXON | Vannin Motorsport with DW Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 36.423 | 1:36.084 | 13 | |
| 13 | 11 | |
Harry BLOOR | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 37.151 | 1:35.840 | 1 | |
| 14 | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 48.822 | 1:36.378 | 14 | |
| 15 | 34 | |
Gregory SAUNDERS | Capture Motorsport AMS Motorcycles | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 53.023 | 1:36.979 | 15 | |
| R | 16 | |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:34.332 | 2 |