It was Lewis Kent who reignited his championship fight in the Hyundai i30 N TCR. Collecting victory in the final Dunlop Touring Car Trophy/TCR UK race of the weekend at Silverstone. The Essex and Kent Motorsport star held off pole sitter Henry Neal to close the gap to just 2 points in the TCT standings.
The front-wheel drive car of Henry Neal bogged down at the start, allowing Lewis Kent to easily drive into the lead as the field battled for second behind.
Qualifying had been promising for the Team Dynamics driver, but the NGTC struggled to get up to pace in the opening laps as Max Hart sniffed his chance. Despite some rubbing, Neal hung onto the place as Dan Kirby quickly joined the fight.
Not one to hang around, Neal’s Honda Civic Type R soon shrugged off the advances of the Cupra TCR’s, closing the gap to Lewis Kent, with Neal chasing a second victory of the weekend. Hart and Kirby followed, creating a four car battle for the lead.
For Kent, victory was vital in order to close back in on Neal in the championship. Managing the gap, Kent saved his best for last, taking his second win of the year by a mere 0.503 seconds, as the latter collected the fastest lap.
In the battle for third, it was a familiar face in the form of Selco-backed Max Hart. The Maximum Motorsport driver could not keep up in the closing stages though his results remain ever-impressive considering he has not been able to test the Cupra TCR this season.
Kirby’s fourth in the race puts him equal fourth in the standings with Tim Docker, who was unable to run with the leaders in the early stages. Both on 43 points, both could still catch Max Hart at Donington and are very much in the battle for third in the championship.
Docker himself spent the closing laps in competition with William Butler for fifth. The Power Maxed-run Cupra had stalled on the line, dropping him to the back of not just the TCT/TCR UK grid, but also the VW Racing Cup who compete at the same time. It was a compliment of Butler’s performance that he was able to cross the line under a second behind Docker’s Volkswagen Golf GTI. Rounding out the finishers would be Darrelle Wilson, who was unable to recover after a pitstop in the opening laps.
Race Winner Lewis Kent said;
“I’m starting to get the starts quite well now. It’s thanks to all the boys back in the shop, BlocKoin and all the sponsors that without I wouldn’t be able to race. The racing was awesome, I pulled a little bit of a gap and pull a little further every lap. In the final laps I decided to stretch the lead, just to make myself feel safe, meaning in the final few corners I could play it nice and easy trying to keep it on the track.
“I’d like to go for the Touring Car Trophy as well. Obviously the TCR UK title is first up, but we’ll have to see how it goes. Donington is a strong circuit for me, I really like it there, but so does Henry. He was very fast last year, so we’ll have to see how it goes.”
The next race at Donington Park takes place on 17-18 October 2020.
