Adam Shepherd dominates Snetterton opener as Callum Newsham fights back

Adam Shepherd added another win to his TCR UK record with a dominant victory in race one at Snetterton, with championship leader Callum Newsham battling from the back of the field to finish on the podium.

With a penalty for George Jaxon after a change of car putting him to the back of the grid, Shepherd lined up alongside debutant Max Hall for the start of the race and led the field down to turn one for the first time – with Sam and Steve Laidlaw both jumping ahead of a slow-starting Hall.

Hall would keep Brad Hutchison at bay to maintain fourth through the opening lap despite being out of shape more than once, with the pair going side-by-side in battle that allowed the top three to break away.

Behind, Newsham had enjoyed a storming lap to vault up the order from the back of the grid into sixth spot.

Shepherd wasted little time in starting to build a lead at the front as Newsham closed in the cars ahead, and at the start of lap three, the Hyundai man overhauled Hutchison for fifth and then grabbed fourth from Steve Laidlaw at Agostini – with Laidlaw having just lost a spot to Hall going into Montreal.

Sam Laidlaw then ran wide on the exit of turn one under pressure from Hall at the start of lap four, with Newsham following him through – although by this stage, Shepherd was already five seconds up the road.

Newsham tried to take a look around the outside of Hall at Montreal on lap five without success, and then came close to making a move at Agostini – with the Hyundai seeming to have the legs on the Lynk & Co ahead.

Newsham then drew alongside down the back straight and on the outside line going under the bridge, swept through into second spot.

Behind, having already cleared Steve Laidlaw, Hutchison passed Sam a lap later to climb into fourth but with the battle for the podium having already escaped up the road.

After the somewhat hectic opening half to the race, things would then calm down – particularly at the front where Shepherd was able to extend his advantage at the front to take the flag comfortably clear of Newsham, who was still able to take plenty of positives from the race given his difficulties in qualifying.

Hall was unable to keep pace with Newsham and dropped further back from the second placed man as a result of a five second penalty for exceeding track limits, although he still had more than enough in hand to retain his podium spot ahead of Hutchison.

Hutchison himself was unable to relax through the closing stages with Sam Laidlaw and Jaxon keeping him honest in a three-way fight for fourth.

Jaxon had worked his way up the order from the back on his first race in the Cupra and managed to split the two Laidlaws with a move on Steve at hairpin but an error on the penultimate lap saw him slip back down to seventh.

Laidlaw was able to hold on during the final lap despite Jaxon’s best efforts to take sixth, with the top ten being completed by Will Beech, Mark Smith and Harry Bloor – despite the latter being forced into a put stop late on.

Alex Jones took Gen 1 honours in eleventh, helped by the fact that Jeff Alden’s Astra was nearly 20 seconds a lap slower with a mechanical issue.