Jac Constable wins chaotic TCR UK opener at Brands Hatch

Jac Constable secured victory in a chaotic opening race to the TCR UK season at Brands Hatch, despite lining up outside the top ten on the grid.

Qualifying saw Callum Newsham make the most of his experience in the Elantra to secure pole position ahead of four of the new Honda Civic FL5 machines, led by former BTCC racer Max Hall – albeit with his Hall’s Racing car being a quarter of a second off top spot.

At the start of the race, Newsham got away well from the line but Hall bogged down and failed to make much progress, with the field behind looking to avoid his stricken car.

Unfortunately, Carl Boardley had also been slow away from fifth, and when Rod McGovern jinked to the left to get ahead of the former champion, it left Lewis Kent with nowhere to go as he slammed into the rear of Hall’s Honda.

That led to a red-flag stoppage to allow the two cars to be recovered from the circuit, with further drama then coming before the restart when Newsham pulled into the pits with a clutch problem and parked his car in the garage. Jenson Mason would also fail to make the start, with his Audi expiring when the field headed off on a second green flag lap.

It meant four gaps on the grid, with Jenson O’Neill-Going now in defacto pole from third on the grid alongside Max Hart, with Boardley and Brad Hutchison behind.

When the lights went out, O’Neill-Going fluffed the start which allowed Hart to blast into the lead, with Constable rocketing his way through to second spot in his Audi despite being on the eleventh spot on the grid – helped by the fact that some of those ahead had been forced to avoid O’Neill-Going and that Hutchison ran wide at turn one.

McGovern got himself up into third, with Hutchison, Boardley and O’Neill-Going dicing for fourth.

A fine move from O’Neill-Going saw him get ahead of Boardley into fifth as Hart looked to break away at the front, with Constable under pressure from a charging McGovern for third.

Behind, Boardley was in trouble and his smoking car came into the pits at the end of lap four to leave just 13 cars running.

With the fight for second behind him getting ever more fraught, Hart was able to ease clear at the front of the field as he extended his advantage out to three seconds by the half-way stage of proceedings, with Constable having a train of four cars behind him all looking to make it onto the podium.

As McGovern continued to try and find a way ahead of Constable for second, Hutchison in fourth was overhauled by both O’Neill-Going and Harry Bloor, with Hutchison then running into trouble as his smoking Cupra returned to the pits.

Heading into the final five minutes, Hart’s advantage at the front started to come down as he dealt with traffic but suddenly the Irish racer slowed and he pulled into the pits – making the battle between Constable and McGovern suddenly a fight for the lead.

McGovern tried to make a move around the outside at Druids on the penulatimate lap but couldn’t make a move stick, with Constable able to take advantage to slightly extend his lead. McGovern then reeled the leader back in the final lap but Constable held on to secure victory, with McGovern and O’Neill-Going rounding out the podium.

Bloor took fourth, with Rick Kerry in fifth despite an early trip off track, finishing nearly 20 seconds behind, with Russell Joyce, Barry-John McHenry and Luke Allen rounding out the top eight.

Mark Smith and Jeff Alden completed the top ten as the final classified finishers, with the latter a lap down.