James Turkington crowned TCR UK champion as Henry Neal wins final race

Henry Neal claimed the final Touring Car Trophy race win of the season at Donington Park, while James Turkington wrapped up the TCR UK championship title with a careful seventh place finish.

Turkington came into the second race of the weekend with an eleven-point lead over chief title rival Lewis Kent, knowing that fourth in the TCR class with Kent not winning would be enough to be crowned champion.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan finished a distant second to Neal in his Cupra TCR, while Kent had to make do with third overall and second in class.

Race 1 winner Morgan got off the line from pole well and headed the Renault Megané TCR of Alex Morgan into Redgate for the first time.

The pair went side-by-side through the Craner Curves before Adam maintained his place at the front act the Old Hairpin. Behind, Kent was also in the mix, with the Essex and Kent Hyundai i30 N TCR almost finding a gap between the two leaders.

The Morgans were split by just under half a second at the start of the second lap, but Kent was forced to make wary for the charging Team Dynamics Honda Civic of Neal, who made it into third overall under braking for Redgate.

Neal then set about chasing after the leaders, and found his way to the front by the start of the eighth lap of 22. The Honda then stretched clear gradually as both Morgans had to fend off a resurgent Kent entering the closing stages, and ultimately took victory by over seven seconds.

Kent by the this point was charging, and dispatched Alex Morgan after several attempts into Redgate and McLeans. The Hyundai, often locking its right-front brake, was by far the quicker of the leading TCR cars, and Kent eventually got past Alex Morgan at Redgate.

This moved Kent into second in the TCR class – although Alex Morgan was ineligible to score points as a guest entrant – and right onto the tail of Adam Morgan out front.

The latter Morgan had enough of a gap to maintain his place at the top of the TCR UK class and duly took his second victory of the weekend, as Neal romped home a comfortable overall victor.

Behind Alex Morgan came the Vauxhall Astra TCR of Darelle Wilson, who finished off one of his most impressive weekends in the series with fifth overall.

Wilson had started further down the grid due to receiving a five-place grid penalty after his Race 1 contact with Henry Neal, but again showed the improved pace of the Astra with a storming drive.

The Astra quickly hounded the back of Turkington and made a decisive overtake on the Cupra as both got stuck behind the squabbling Volkswagen CC Team Hard cars of Josh Coggan and Darron Lewis.

Wilson held off Turkington to the flag, with the latter more than happy to come home seventh behind the Team Dynamics NGTC Honda Civic Type R to win the title.

Behind Turkington came Coggan and Lewis, with the Honda Civic of Nick Halstead rounding out the top ten.