Photo: PSP Images

Carl Swift delighted by maiden TCR podium

Carl Swift admitted he was delighted to score his maiden podium finish after his best weekend to date in the TCR UK Championship at Castle Combe.

Swift went into the weekend keen to build on a solid showing at Brands Hatch and qualified seventh on the grid for the opening race at the wheel of his Maximum Motorsport-run Cupra TCR.

Having battled throughout with the Alfa Romeo of Derek Palmer, Swift took his best result of the season with fifth spot in race one but didn’t have to wait long thanks to an impressive drive in race two.

Putting pressure on Dan Lloyd in the early stages, Swift held second spot before being demoted back to third by a charging Ollie Taylor and then fought hard to keep the chasing pack at bay.

A five second penalty for exceeding track limits seemed to have robbed him of what would have been a fine podium finish, but an appeal post-race saw the penalty rescinded and Swift moved back to third place in the end results.

“I took my onboard camera footage to show to the Clerk of the Course straight after the race and he agreed with my view that the penalty shouldn’t have been applied,” he said.

“I’m delighted to have scored my first TCR UK podium – hopefully it’s the first of many. I really want to thank everyone who’s helped me so far, particularly all the lads who work so hard to get the car out on the grid. I’m really looking forward to the final three race weekends of the year as I really like Oulton Park, Croft is my favourite circuit and Donington is my home track!”

Swift ends the weekend sitting sixth in the championship standings.