TCR UK Touring Car Championship – Rounds 6, 7 & 8
Silverstone National – 17th & 18th May 2025
A near-perfect weekend for Steve Laidlaw took him to within nine points of the TCR UK Touring Car championship summit as the series shone at Silverstone.
Laidlaw scorched to pole position, two wins and two fastest laps before being edged in the finale by Callum Newsham who also had a weekend to remember. It has brought the pair hot onto the heels of points leader Adam Shepherd, who had a relatively quiet weekend by his standards, as the championship chase approaches its mid-point.
Qualifying
It was Area Motorsport’s Steve Laidlaw who set the pace in Saturday morning qualifying, recording a 102.5mph lap around the 1.6-mile National circuit in his CUPRA Leon VZ.
Debuting his own new Leon VZ, Adam Shepherd (Capture Motorsport) had held sway until the dying moments when Laidlaw managed a time 0.015 seconds faster than his previous marker. Callum Newsham (JH Racing Hyundai i30 N) then split the pair, falling just 0.042s shy of Laidlaw’s best.
As a result of changing cars mid-season, Shepherd would start the weekend’s opening race from the back of the grid and was carrying maximum ballast aboard his CUPRA, as per championship regulations. But he would start the weekend finale from pole position, based on drivers’ second fastest times, ahead of Newsham and Laidlaw.
Fourth fastest overall was Sam Laidlaw, Steve’s son, a quarter of a second off the ultimate pace in his similar CUPRA. Luke Sargeant (Vannin Motorsport with RS Vehicle Sales Audi RS3 LMS Gen2) and Brad Hutchison (Bond It with MPH Racing CUPRA Leon Competicion) completed the top six.
Among the Gen 1 Cup cars, Jeff Alden (Power Maxed Racing Audi RS3) headed championship debutant Alex Jones (DW Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI).
SILVERSTONE NATIONAL QUALIFYING RESULT
Round Six – Race Report
Steve Laidlaw converted pole position into the race lead, with Newsham slotting into second and Sam Laidlaw third. As the lead pair immediately opened a gap, the younger Laidlaw was left in no-man’s land while Hutchison and Sargeant battled for fourth.
Newsham’s Hyundai stuck like glue to the leader’s CUPRA and challenged as they headed into the complex at the end of each lap. The i30 N was clearly quicker through the left-hander at Brooklands and the tighter right at Luffield. But the CUPRA was quicker on the straights, meaning that Newsham could never get the run he needed.
Inch-perfect placement of his car by Laidlaw prevented Newsham from showing the Hyundai’s nose no matter what he tried. The JH Racing driver needed Laidlaw to make a mistake but that never came as Laidlaw swept to a second career victory, his first since Thruxton last September. Just a quarter of a second separated the pair at the flag.
Sam Laidlaw, a winner last time out at Donington, was third, another 2.5s back but well clear of the race-long battle for fourth.
Hutchison, with the car now more to his liking, and Sargeant traded the place three times on the opening lap before Hutchison cemented himself in the position. But Sargeant continued to probe, and the pair were quickly joined by Shepherd from his-back-of the-grid start. Shepherd split the pair at around one-third race length, only to lose out again when he locked up a similar distance from the end.
So it was Hutchison who finished fourth ahead of Sargeant and Shepherd. The latter’s Capture Motorsport team-mate Will Beech (CUPRA Leon Competicion) was a lonely seventh, ahead of returnee Rod McGovern, now at the wheel of a Power Maxed Racing CUPRA.
McGovern’s PMR team-mates both suffered early incidents in their Hyundais, leaving Harry Bloor two laps down in 13th and Finn Leslie a non-finisher. So it was Sargeant’s Vannin Audi team-mate George Jaxon and Mark Smith (Richmond Fire CUPRA) who completed the top 10.
Gen 1 Cup honours went to Alden from Jones.
SILVERSTONE NATIONAL ROUND SIX RESULT
Round Seven – Race Report
With the top 10 from Saturday’s race reversed to form the grid for weekend’s second contest, it was Mark Smith on pole position, with Jaxon alongside.
The pair initially held their positions but, as they ran side by side through the complex at the end of the first lap, Steve Laidlaw sniffed an opportunity to squeeze inside. It completed an incredible first lap for the Saturday victor who had charged from 10th on the grid, taking advantage of a tangle between Beech and McGovern to snatch third before making his move for the lead.
Hutchison followed Laidlaw through into second, before Sargeant and Newsham did likewise at Copse. Sam Laidlaw followed them past Smith, meaning that all of the previous day’s top five had made it back into those positions – albeit in a slightly different order – within a lap and a half.
The start had not gone so well for Shepherd, whose car stalled on the line after a clutch problem, leaving him at the back of the field. The pace was there, with Shepherd setting the fastest lap of the race, but he had left himself with too much to do to get back on terms with the leaders.
Out front, Newsham passed Sargeant and then closed up to Hutchison before pulling off a superb move around the outside of Brooklands to take second position on lap four of an eventual 16. He then closed up to Laidlaw and we looked set for a repeat of the previous day’s duel.
However, the racing was neutralised when Sargeant and Sam Laidlaw tangled at Copse. Laidlaw Jr challenged around the outside line but the pair made contact, ending both their races. Sargeant was sent heavily into the wall and, although he was quickly out of the car, a lengthy clear-up operation left time for only one more racing lap.
In that one-lap dash, a slight mistake from Steve Laidlaw at Brooklands gave Newsham a sniff but the Area Motorsport driver held on to take his second win of the weekend. Newsham had to settle for second again, while Hutchison was pleased with a podium after a tough time chasing pace from his older CUPRA.
Jaxon, who had clung on to the lead pack in the early stages, benefited from the demise of Sargeant and Laidlaw Jr to seal an impressive fourth place overall. Shepherd managed to salvage fifth, picking off Leslie (sixth) and Beech (seventh) on the final lap.
McGovern, Greg Saunders (Capture Motorsport CUPRA) and Smith completed the top 10, while Alden again took Gen 1 Cup honours.
SILVERSTONE NATIONAL ROUND SEVEN RESULT
Round Eight – Race Report
From pole position for the weekend finale, Shepherd was beaten off the line by Newsham and Steve Laidlaw. The two CUPRAs then ran side by side down the Wellington Straight with Laidlaw looking to have held onto the position before a slight mistake at Luffield let Shepherd back into second.
The race was then neutralised after contact unsettled Beech’s car and sent him into the barriers exiting Luffield on the first lap.
When racing resumed, Newsham again made a good getaway and opened a slight margin before Shepherd and Laidlaw closed back in, with Sam Laidlaw also looking to join the lead battle.
But in the second half of the race, a misfire developed on Shepherd’s car and robbed him of some power. It gave Newsham a little breathing space, while Shepherd had to focus on fending off Laidlaw. Into the final quarter of the race, Laidlaw managed to dive inside at Brooklands to snatch the position.
Thereafter, the top four positions remained unchanged, Newsham taking his second win of the season by 2.1s from Laidlaw, which completed the pair’s lockout of the top two places for all three races. Laidlaw also swept the board in the Goodyear Diamond Award for drivers aged 40 and over.
Shepherd took his first podium of the weekend in third, half a second clear of Sam Laidlaw, while Hutchison was a lonely fifth.
Leslie got the better of a good battle with Sargeant to cross the line in sixth position but was then hit with a penalty for some earlier contact as he passed McGovern. That promoted Sargeant and McGovern to sixth and seventh, with Leslie slipping to eighth.
McGovern had fended off several cars in his battle for what had been eighth in the closing stages, leaving Jaxon ninth and Ryan Bensley 10th. That was Bensley’s best result of a difficult weekend aboard his Lynk & Co 03 after electrical and rollbar problems in the earlier races.
Alden completed a hat-trick of Gen 1 Cup wins, 3.6s ahead of Jones, who upped his pace as the weekend progressed.
SILVERSTONE NATIONAL ROUND EIGHT RESULT
Fantastic weekends for both Steve Laidlaw and Callum Newsham leave the top of the TCR UK championship standings looking much tighter. After dropped scores are allowed for, Shepherd’s lead over Laidlaw is now just nine points, with Newsham a further three back as they head to Croft in North Yorkshire next month.
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER SILVERSTONE NATIONAL
Driver Quotes
Rounds 6 & 7 winner, Steve Laidlaw
“That was the race of my life. To beat Callum fair and square in such a close-quarters run battle: unbelievable. He didn’t give me an inch. One mistake and he’d have had me.
“I know that Callum is super-good on the brakes, so the last part of the lap was 100% his. I was just trying to give him not enough room to shove it up the inside and it seemed to work but, man, that was a close-run thing.
“Area Motorsport is the best team in the paddock because everyone is working so hard in one direction.”
Round 8 winner, Callum Newsham
“JH Racing have done a mega job getting the Hyundai to compete with these VZ CUPRAs. Honestly, I didn’t think I could win that but we had good pace so I’m happy.
“This car is mega on the brakes but I made a really good start and that’s what sealed the deal.”
Next time – Croft
The 2025 TCR UK Touring Car Championship is back in action in just over 4 weeks, on Saturday 14th June and Sunday 15th June at Croft in Yorkshire.
Our trip north will see the classic venue hosting rounds nine, ten and eleven play out across the weekend
You can purchase tickets for the next event of the 2025 season at Croft from their website:
https://croftcircuit.co.uk/racing/tcr
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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