New for the 2023 season of TCR Competition is the TCR World Ranking, where drivers score points via a dedicated system, which at the end of the year, will see the top 45 drivers in the TCR World Ranking, join the top 15 drivers who have competed in the TCR World Tour.
All 60 drivers will then compete in the TCR World Ranking Final at a location to be confirmed early next year to crown the TCR World Champion Driver, Team and Manufacturer.
Let’s take a look at how the TCR UK Touring Car Championship drivers have progressed after rounds ten and eleven took place at Silverstone in Northamptonshire last weekend.
Bruce Winfield remains on top despite a mixed weekend
Bruce Winfield retired in one race, but his rescuing of a podium in Race 2, despite a controversial incident with his Area Motorsport Hyundai team-mate Adam Shepherd, means he stays as the top ranked of the championship’s drivers this weekend.
Winfield in fact advances five places to 16th, and is at this point almost guaranteed a slot in the TCR World Ranking Final, with the best 45 drivers allocated a spot.
Alex Ley moves up to second-best of TCR UK field
Silverstone Race 2 winner and Hyundai Motorsport Junior Driver Alex Ley has now moved up to being the second-best of the championship’s racers after a strong weekend.
An advance of six places sees him swap positions with Adam Shepherd, who following a double-DNF was lucky to have only dropped four positions, with one of Shepherd’s dropped scores also being a DNF from Brands Hatch in 2022.
Big falls for Kent and Newsham
A disastrous weekend despite showing good speed for Callum Newsham and Bradley Kent saw both drivers take a significant tumble this week, with Newsham dropping 40 spots and Kent 43, both falling to 160th and 169th respectively.
Now both drivers are unlikely to make it into the top 100 before the season’s end.
Chris Smiley close to the bubble for the Final
Six of the TCR UK championship’s drivers are currently in qualifying positions for the TCR World Ranking Final, with only the next race weekend at Donington Park counting before the October 1st cut-off for the top 45.
Winfield, Ley, Shepherd, Jac Constable, one-time racer Josh Files, and last year’s champion Chris Smiley currently make the grade, though Smiley is on the outer edge of the qualifying positions.
Smiley’s DNF in Race 2 cost him 11 places and he falls to 55nd overall, but 42nd of the top 45 once you remove the automatically qualifying top 15 TCR World Tour drivers.
Just outside is Bradley Hutchison who needs to move up six places, but also likely to crash the party soon are the fast-charging Carl Boardley and Jenson Brickley, with both drivers make 30+ position gains at the weekend and are now 70th and 97th.
TCR UK Drivers movements in the TCR World Rankings
Next time – Donington Park National!
The 2023 TCR UK Touring Car Championship is back in action in less than 3 weeks time, on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of September, where rounds 12 & 13 will take place at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
The National layout will be used for this event, as TCR UK returns to the venue that played host to Media Day back in March this year.
You can purchase tickets for this event at the following link: https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2023-calendar/
