Callum Newsham wins Silverstone finale

Callum Newsham emerged victorious in the final TCR UK race of the weekend at Silverstone, with a controlled drive seeing him head the field from start-to-finish.

Adam Shepherd lined up on pole but was beaten away from the line by Newsham, who got the better start to head the field into turn one, with Shepherd also dropping behind Steve Laidlaw at Copse.

Shepherd however was able to reclaim the place when he went round the outside of Laidlaw at Luffield when the Cupra got out of shape just before the safety car was called out to recover Will Beech’s car from the gravel.

The action resumed on lap five with Newsham getting the jump on Shepherd and Laidlaw, with Sam Laidlaw, Brad Hutchison and Luke Sargeant rounding out the top six.

Newsham was able to edge out a slender gap at the front as Shepherd was forced to try and fend off Laidlaw, who was bidding to try and fight his way through to a third win of the weekend after his earlier successes.

Shepherd was able to hold on until the 15th lap when Laidlaw launched a lunge down the inside at Brooklands to take second, with Shepherd briefly taking to the grass but keeping Sam Laidlaw behind as the pair turned in to Luffield.

Newsham was clear at the front however and he was able to ease to the finish with a gap of little over two seconds to Steve Laidlaw, with Shepherd fending of Laidlaw Jr in the final laps to grab third.

Hutchison ran in fifth throughout in his Cupra, with Finn Leslie crossing the line in sixth spot having battled ahead of Sargeant mid-way through the race.

However, Leslie was later penalised for contact with Rod McGovern earlier in the race that dropped him back down the order, with Sargeant and McGovern both moving ahead of the youngster in the final result.

George Jaxon and Ryan Bensley then completed the top ten, with Jeff Alden wrapping up a hat-trick of wins in the Gen1 Cup as he once again saw off the challenge of Alex Jones.