Photo: TCR UK

New champion Shepherd “couldn’t have driven slower” in TCR UK finale

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Newly crowned TCR UK champion Adam Shepherd said he ‘could not have driven slower’ en route to sixth place which was enough to pick up his first series title at Brands Hatch.

Shepherd put one hand on the championship with victory in Saturday’s penultimate race of the year, but still needed to score in the final encounter as chief rival Callum Newsham won the race.

The Cupra VZ León driver battled with Brad Hutchison and Max Hall during the 17-lap finale despite not needing to, but revealed post-race that this approach had been far from planned.

“I don’t think I’ve ever driven as slowly in my life,” Shepherd said.

“Big props to Will [Beech], my team-mate because he did a blinding job to keep people off me behind, I just couldn’t drive slowly enough behind them in front, because they were battling.

“I could see the guys behind closing in so I had to speed up, so I thought I would give it a go, but Brad was defending hard and I was like ‘what am I doing?’ and over the pitwall the team was saying ‘you idiot, slow down!’ so it was the weirdest race ever.”

Having tried several times to get ahead of Hutchison and into clear air, Shepherd eventually gave in and allowed a determined Hall back into fifth place.

Shepherd was a comfortable sixth – a 12th place finish would also have assured him the title – before the race was halted three minutes from the end following a three-car incident at Paddock Hill Bend.

The title triumph was a relief for Shepherd who has proven the most consistent performer all season.

“Unbelievable, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs in TCR, this year I think it’s fair to say that we’ve dominated, with six wins and seven poles; the team has been unbelievable,” Shepherd added.

Title rival Newsham was the star of the show in the final race, incredibly vaulting eight positions on the opening lap of the reversed grid encounter, before romping to victory.

Despite missing out on the ultimate prize, Newsham was instead content with his performance.

“It was the best we could have done, win the race and get the fastest lap, that’s all we could have done,” Newsham said. “So, well done to Adam, he’s had a mega year.”