TCR UK Touring Car Championship – Rounds 12 & 13
Oulton Park Island – 5th July 2025
A commanding display by Adam Shepherd took him to a maximum score as the TCR UK Touring Car Championship graced the scenic parkland venue of Oulton Park last weekend (5 July).
Shepherd’s Capture Motorsport-run CUPRA Leon VZ claimed pole position, two race wins and both fastest laps as he closed the gap to championship leader Callum Newsham to just six points with four races remaining.
Qualifying
Adam Shepherd didn’t have things entirely his own way in Saturday morning’s qualifying session around the 2.26-mile Island circuit. He needed a late new-tyre run to edge Sam Laidlaw’s similar CUPRA Leon VZ, run by Area Motorsport, to grab pole position (and six championship points) by just 0.06 seconds.
Laidlaw’s father Steve bounced back from a bruising weekend at Croft to go third fastest, just under half a second down on Shepherd’s ultimate pace, and complete a clean sweep for the Leon VZ.
Brad Hutchison, aboard the older version Leon Competicion run by the Bond It with MPH Racing squad, was the driver knocked back by Laidlaw Sr’s terrific last-gasp improvement of more than 0.6s. His fellow Yorkshireman was pipped by just 0.073s.
Hampered by the maximum 40kg of compensation weight in his JH Racing Hyundai i30 N, points leader Callum Newsham could only manage the fifth fastest time – although even that was looking unlikely when he languished down the timesheets earlier in the session.
Rising star Finn Leslie (Power Maxed Racing Hyundai) completed the point-scoring positions, just a few hundredths slower than Newsham and within a second of the ultimate pace.
The returning Rod McGovern (Leon Competiticion) edged George Jaxon (Audi RS3 LMs) to seventh. Will Beech (Leon Competicion) and Harry Bloor (Hyundai) completed the top 10 qualifiers after Greg Saunders, whose CUPRA would have been ninth, had his times deleted for speeding.
The same fate befell Stewart Lines (Hyundai), consigning the pair to the back of the grid for the afternoon’s first race.
OULTON PARK ISLAND QUALIFYING RESULT
Round Twelve – Race Report
Shepherd and Sam Laidlaw successfully converted their front-row starts to first and second on the road as the afternoon’s opening contest got underway – but there was drama behind.
Steve Laidlaw’s hard work in qualifying was undone when his CUPRA stalled and he was left playing catch-up from the rear of the field. Starting directly behind Laidlaw, Newsham had to swerve around the recalcitrant CUPRA and was jumped by Leslie, who slotted into fourth behind Hutchison.
It didn’t take Newsham long to hit back as he dived past his fellow Hyundai driver into the Hislops chicane, halfway round the lap.
Out front, Shepherd opened a lead of 1.3s within the opening lap and extended that to more than 2s before a safety car neutralised the race. That was required after Bloor clobbered a tyre stack at the chicane, damaging the front-left corner of his Hyundai and crashing into the barriers at Knickerbrook on lap three of an eventual 12.
Racing resumed with enough time for four more laps. Shepherd timed his restart to perfection, catching Sam Laidlaw on the hoof to re-establish his advantage.
Trying to cling on, Laidlaw ran wide at Old Hall, the first corner, which allowed Hutchison a run through the Avenue. He had taken second before they even arrived at Cascades.
With Laidlaw wrong-footed, Newsham also seized the opportunity to dive past into the Island hairpin, and Leslie almost took advantage of the situation too.
Shepherd charged to victory, his fifth of the season, by 3.6s over Hutchison, who was delighted with second position at the circuit where he fell in love with motorsport.
Newsham had to go defensive to hold off Laidlaw’s retaliation in the closing stages, but could be proud of a strongly executed damage limitation exercise.
Behind Laidlaw Jr in fourth, Leslie was fifth and Steve Laidlaw climbed back through the field to be classified sixth. Rod McGovern had just held him off on the road but copped a 10s penalty for a start infringement that dropped him to ninth in the results.
Will Beech took Goodyear Diamond Award honours, for drivers aged 40 and over, in seventh overall, ahead of his Capture Motorsport team-mate Greg Saunders. Behind McGovern, Mark Smith’s Ben Sharpe Racing-run Richmond Fire Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competicion completed the top 10.
OULTON PARK ISLAND ROUND TWELVE RESULT
Round Thirteen – Race Report
The opening race results set the grid for the afternoon’s finale, with the top 10 reversed. Mark Smith and Rod McGovern therefore lined up on the front row, ahead of Greg Saunders and Will Beech, with the likes of Brad Hutchison and Adam Shepherd back on row five.
A lightning start from fifth on the grid propelled Steve Laidlaw through the rapidly closing gap between Saunders and Beech, and he also passed Smith before latching onto McGovern.
Laidlaw tried an outside move at Island on the opening tour but the Irishman held on. However, Laidlaw was in the lead before the end of the lap, squeezing through on the run to Lodge.
Leslie and Newsham had also made cracking starts from rows three and four. They were running third and fourth before Newsham made his move to steal third from Leslie at Lodge at the end of the lap. The pair then dispatched McGovern to take second and third.
McGovern, a successful tin-tops campaigner in his own right, was not making it easy for the big names working their way through the field. Next on his radar was Hutchison, who managed to make a move stick at Cascades on lap three of 14.
After his unfortunate disqualification at Croft last time out, Shepherd was adopting a very cautious approach as he picked his way forward. Seventh on the opening lap, he then passed Beech and managed to follow in Hutchison’s wake past McGovern for fifth.
Fourth was Shepherd’s before the end of that lap as he got inside Hutchison at Lodge. Hutchison wasn’t done, however, and fought back at Old Hall. The pair ran side by side through the corner without any contact or even putting a wheel off the road as Shepherd held on.
Capture Motorsport’s lead driver then pumped in a series of fastest laps as he closed up to the leading trio. Race leader Laidlaw appeared to be struggling for ultimate pace and had Newsham filling his mirrors but, try as he might, the JH Racing man could not engineer a way past.
Shepherd squeezed ahead of Leslie at Deer Leap shortly before half-distance as Laidlaw enjoyed a couple of laps’ respite from Newsham’s challenges. But his troubles remained and led to a trip over the grass at Hislops on lap 10.
Somehow, Laidlaw held onto the lead. But ironically, it had compromised Newsham. Shepherd got a run on the Hyundai over the second half of the lap. He got alongside and completed the move into Old Hall.
Now it was just Laidlaw ahead of Shepherd. And when the notification came through that the leader had earned a 5s track limits penalty, Shepherd knew the job was done. Rather than take the risk of making a move, he was content to sit in behind, knowing the victory would be his.
Laidlaw crossed the line first but dropped off the podium when his penalty was applied. Shepherd, therefore, completed his clean sweep despite debris causing a puncture in the closing stages. Newsham was more than satisfied with his own efforts in second.
Leslie had been suffering with his brakes as the laps wound down. He dropped back from the lead trio and lost out to Hutchison, Sam Laidlaw and Rod McGovern. In clear air, Hutchison just managed to get within the crucial 5s margin to Laidlaw Sr and thus pipped him to third by 0.17s.
Sam Laidlaw and McGovern were also hit with track-limits penalties and thus Leslie was classified fifth, ahead of Laidlaw Jr and McGovern who took the Goodyear Diamond Award spoils.
Jaxon, Saunders and Lines completed the top 10.
OULTON PARK ISLAND ROUND THIRTEEN RESULT
Newsham’s lead at the top of the standings has been cut to just six points over Shepherd as TCR UK heads into a two-month summer break. Sam and Steve Laidlaw lie third and fourth but, now more than 60 points off the pace, their championship chances must be considered a long shot.
The championship resumes with the penultimate meeting of the season taking place at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of 13/14 September.
Driver Quotes
Rounds 12 & 13 winner, Adam Shepherd
“Steve [Laidlaw] was really struggling towards the end. I made the decision that if I attacked Steve, Callum was going to catch the pair of us, and I’d seen he had a penalty. As soon as I’d seen the penalty, I stopped attacking and gave him some breathing room on the brakes to stop us battling.
“Pole, two wins, two fastest laps, lap record – unbelievable. The car was fantastic. Huge thanks to 5G Communications – we wouldn’t be here otherwise – Capture Motorsport and all the team who’ve been unbelievable.”
Championship leader, Callum Newsham
“I didn’t think I’d get on the podium. I think the Hyundai, we did a pretty good job with it today.
“I wanted to keep Adam behind me, but he just had the grunt on me out of the last corner.”
Championship positions after Oulton Park Island event
Next time – Snetterton 300
The 2025 TCR UK Touring Car Championship takes a break for the summer, however, it will be back in action in under 10 weeks, on Saturday 13th September and Sunday 14th September at Snetterton in Norfolk.
Our trip east will take place on the 300 layout, where rounds fourteen and fifteen will play out. This is also the last event where drivers can drop their two lowest scores before the Brands Hatch Indy finale in November.
Snetterton hosts the first of our two visits alongside the British Truck Racing Championship, offering a brand-new spectacle across the weekend: “Touring Cars and Trucks”.
You can purchase tickets for the next event of the 2025 season at Snetterton from their website:
https://www.snetterton.co.uk/2025/september/british-truck-racing
To find out more about the TCR UK Touring Car Championship, visit https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/ for more information and how to get involved.
To learn more about the 2025 TCR UK Touring Car Championship Calendar events, visit https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2025-calendar/ for more information.
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