Adam Shepherd on top in chaotic Croft finale

Adam Shepherd bounced back from his exclusion in race two to secure a second TCR UK win of the weekend in a chaotic finale at Croft, which included a dramatic exit for one of the championship contenders.

Steve Laidlaw got a better start than Shepherd when the lights went out to grab the lead on the run down to turn one, with Callum Newsham then taking a look at Shepherd as the field headed towards Tower for the first time.

With the leader still feeling the effects of the damage sustained in the incident that saw him forced out of race two, Shepherd quickly closed onto his tail in a four-way dice of the lead that also included Newsham and Sam Laidlaw – with Brad Hutchison just behind.

However, things went wrong for Steve Laidlaw in dramatic fashion on the second lap as Shepherd looked to try and make a move for the lead as the field headed out through the Jim Clark Esses.

Going into Barcroft, Laidlaw’s car suddenly twitched at the rear before he went off at speed into the tyre wall as he tried to regain control – with Shepherd forced to jump onto the brakes to avoid collecting his rival.

Laidlaw was lucky not to vault the barriers with the rear of his Cupra taking another substantial hit, with the safety car deployed immediately and the action then halted given the extensive damage to the tyre wall.

It wasn’t just Laidlaw in trouble either, with the Gen1 Volkswagen of Alex Jones having gone off into the barriers on the exit of the chicane earlier in the lap before his car came to rest on the edge of the circuit on the run up to Tower Bend.

With the barrier damage repaired, the field lined up for the restart with Finn Leslie also dropping out of the action when his Hyundai failed to get away for the green flag lap.

It meant ten cars took their place waiting for the lights to go out, with Shepherd holding the lead into turn one from Newsham and Sam Laidlaw.

Shepherd quickly built a lead at the front ahead of the fight for second, with Hutchison just behind in fourth and Harry Bloor and Gregory Saunders then embroiled in battle for fifth.

Saunders held the position until the end of the fourth lap when Bloor launched a late move down the inside into the hairpin only for Saunders to come back at him on the run down to turn one at the start of lap five.

As Bloor turned in to take the corner with Saunders down the inside, contact between the pair saw both go off into the gravel at Clervaux – with the safety car called back out as the two cars were recovered.

Action resumed on the eighth lap, albeit in somewhat questionable circumstances when Shepherd dropped back from the safety car ready for the restart but then appeared to pass the Ford Focus just as it headed off the circuit rather than after it had actually entered the pitlane.

The Cupra driver was in a class of his own however as he cleared off up the road to secure the victory, with Newsham forced to defend hard to keep Laidlaw at bay.

Despite Laidlaw’s best efforts, Newsham held on to take second and retain his points lead, with Hutchison in a lonely fourth place – two seconds off the podium but more than eight clear of George Jaxon in fifth.

Jordan Kerridge took sixth after holding off Mark Smith in the closing laps, with Will Beech rounding out the eight finishers.

The next TCR UK race weekend takes place at Oulton Park on July 5th.