Adam Shepherd banished the poor luck he suffered in race one at Castle Combe by taking his maiden win in TCR UK in dominant fashion, never being headed in the first race of the day at Donington Park.
Shepherd managed to hold off the fast starting JamSport Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR of Max Hart as the field streamed into Redgate for the first time of asking in the twenty-five minute encounter, with Chris Smiley in close attendance. However with Scott Sumpton suffering contact at Hollywood and coming to a halt on the inside of the Craner Curves, the Safety Car was deployed.
Racing resumed once more on lap four with Shepherd leading Hart and Smiley, ahead of Bruce Winfield in his Area Motorsport CUPRA TCR, Alex Ley in the Daniel James Motorsport Hyundai i30 N TCR, Power Maxed Racing teammates Callum Newsham and Jac Constable, Lewis Kent in the Essex and Kent Motorsport Hyundai Veloster N TCR, Isaac Smith in his Race Car Consultants Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR and Jamie Tonks in the Area Motorsport by FastR CUPRA TCR.
As Hart pursued Shepherd, Constable passed Newsham for sixth place whilst Bradley Kent was on a charge, having started last on the grid after an engine change and by lap seven, the Essex and Kent Motorsport Hyundai i30 N TCR driver was up to tenth place, having passed Tonks. One lap later the order changed behind Shepherd and Hart as Winfield passed Smiley for third place as Constable and Ley closed in on the Restart Racing Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR.
The battle for eight place mid race was between Lewis Kent, Isaac Smith and Bradley Kent, with Lewis staying ahead of Smith as brother Bradley passed the Volkswagen Golf, despite trading some paint on the run down the Exhibition straight, however one lap later and Brad had gone wide at Coppice and lost places as he regained the track.
As Hart pulled off into the pits oin the closing stages, Adam Shepherd took his first TCR UK race win ahead of Bruce Winfield with Chris smiley taking third place. Jac Constable and Alex Ley completed the top five places ahead of Lewis Kent and Isaac Smith, who lost ground to title rival Smiley in the title hunt. Jamie Tonks was classified in eighth place ahead of both Matthew Wilson and Andy Wilmot.
As well as taking the Goodyear Trophy win, Wilmot will also start in pole position for the reversed grid race later on this afternoon in his JamSport Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR. Bradley Kent was eleventh ahead of Russell Joyce, whilst Darron Lewis came home in 13th place ahead of debutant George Heler in the Paul Sheard Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR.
Neil Trotter (CUPRA), Chris Wallis (Hyundai), Steve Gales (Audi) and Mark Smith (CUPRA) were the last classified finishers with Callum Newsham, Ant Whorton-Eales and Scott Sumpton not finishing the race.
