Adam Shepherd tops Snetterton qualifying
Adam Shepherd topped the times in qualifying for the latest rounds of the TCR UK Championship at Snetterton with a depleted field heading to Norfolk for the second meeting of the campaign.
Callum Newsham was the first driver to set a quick time with a lap in the 1:57s bracket only to lose it immediately for a track limits infringement, although it didn’t take the championship leader long to grab his place on provisional pole – his time being more than a second quicker than defending champion Carl Boardley could manage on his first quick lap.
However, Newshams’s time at the top wouldn’t last for long as Shepherd and Joe Marshall both went quicker, with Shepherd dipping below the 1:56s marker in his Cupra.
Marshall had been more than a second behind in second place before he improved to bring the gap between the pair down to just 0.092s, with Boardley moving into third – albeit a second off the pace.
Shepherd would improve his time as the session came towards its conclusion, improving to a 1:55.675s on his final lap to end up three-tenths of a second clear of Marshall, with Newsham improving to third to move ahead of Boardley, although his Hyundai was eight-tenths down on the front row.
The Cupras of Brad Hutchison and Luke Sargeant will share the second row of the grid with Darron Lewis in seventh ahead of the leading Gen1 runner, with Rick Kerry overcoming an off-track moment in his Cupra to beat Will Beech to the class pole, with debutant Steve Laidlaw in tenth in his Hyundai.
Mark Smith and Jeff Alden round out the grid.
