Adam Shepherd extended his championship lead in TCR UK with a controlled victory in the opening race at Croft, beating title rival Callum Newsham by less than a second.
Shepherd had earlier qualified his new CUPRA Leon VZ TCR on pole position – his second of the season – by just over a quarter of a second from Newsham’s Hyundai.
At the start, Shepherd held his lead, whilst behind the leading duo Bradley Hutchison passed Sam Laidlaw for fourth into the first corner.
Steve Laidlaw had held third early on, but on the second lap he had a huge slide at the Jim Clark Esses, followed by going off the road two corners later at Sunny In, dropping to 12th in the process.
That promoted Hutchison to third, and Sam Laidlaw to fourth, which is how the positions would remain for much of the race.
A safety car period was briefly required on laps 4 – 5 due to Alex Jones rear-ending the tyre stack at the Jim Clark Esses.
When racing resumed, there were few changes in the order. The recovering Steve Laidlaw made contact with Mark Smith at the Jim Clark Esses on the eighth lap whilst battling for ninth, sending Smith into a spin and curtailing Laidlaw’s recovery drive.
Then, on the final lap, Power Maxed Racing’s Finn Leslie took advantage of a mistake by Sam Laidlaw to sneak into fourth at the complex on the final lap, as ahead of him Shepherd claimed his third win of the season from Newsham and Hutchison.
Sam Laidlaw had to settle for fifth, ahead of Will Beech’s CUPRA.
After a messy and eventful race, Steve Laidlaw was only tenth and lost ground in the title race as a result.
Racing resumed with race two at 12:05 BST on Sunday, followed by race three at 16:30 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 117 |  |
Adam SHEPHERD | Capture Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 20:06.348 | 1:23.161 | 1 | |
| 2 | 16 | |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 0.658 | 1:23.549 | 2 | |
| 3 | 17 | |
Bradley HUTCHISON | Bond It with MPH Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 8.087 | 1:24.164 | 5 | |
| 4 | 26 | |
Finn LESLIE | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 9.930 | 1:24.335 | 6 | |
| 5 | 101 | |
Sam LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 10.203 | 1:23.786 | 4 | |
| 6 | 27 | |
Will BEECH | Capture Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 15.371 | 1:24.864 | 7 | |
| 7 | 28 | |
George JAXON | Vannin Motorsport with DW Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 27.866 | 1:26.070 | 8 | |
| 8 | 34 | |
Gregory SAUNDERS | Capture Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 30.488 | 1:26.051 | 10 | |
| 9 | 11 | |
Harry BLOOR | Power Maxed Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 31.254 | 1:25.294 | 9 | |
| 10 | 100 | |
Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 36.247 | 1:25.781 | 3 | |
| 11 | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | BSR with Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 47.933 | 1:27.091 | 12 | |
| 12 | 96 | |
Jordan KERRIDGE | Vannin Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 54.594 | 1:27.895 | 11 | |
| 13 | 7 | |
Alex JONES | DW Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | + 2 LAPS | 1:30.882 | 13 |