Jac Constable picks up where he left off with race one win

Jac Constable picked up where he left off in TCR UK  two-and-a-half years ago by winning the opening race of the season at Brands Hatch, in a race which saw the initial start red-flagged.

The first start saw Max Hall get away from the front row of the grid slowly, and further back fellow Honda racer Carl Boardley was also sluggish away from the line.

When Rod McGovern dived around Boardley, he in turn forced Lewis Kent out wide in avoidance, and Kent smashed into the back of the stalled Honda of Hall.

With extensive front-end damage to Kent’s Lynk & Co, and debris all over the circuit, the race had to be red-flagged for the track to be cleared.

During the stoppage, it then became apparent that pole-sitter Callum Newsham would be unable to take the start due to a clutch issue.

That left Power Maxed Racing’s Jenson O’Neill-Going as the defacto pole-sitter for the restart, from what was the third-best time in qualifying, but the Honda driver was slow away from the line at a clumsy restart.

That allowed Max Hart to seize the early lead in his Honda, as Bradley Hutchison was initially second in his CUPRA before going wide at Paddock Hill Bend, allowing the fast-starting Audi of Jac Constable, from 11^th on the grid, to slot into second.

McGovern ran third early on, as Boardley and Hutchison battled for fourth, with two-time champion Boardley going side-by-side with Hutchison for half a lap but unable to get through, as O’Neill-Going then capitalised on the battle to take fifth on lap two.

Boardley dropped out of the race on lap five with smoke coming from his Honda, ultimately limping back to the pits to retire.

Constable had to withstand pressure from McGovern for second in the first half of the race, with Hart opening up a lead of more than four seconds at one stage.

However, on lap 19 Hart slowed and brought his Honda into the pits to retire with a technical issue, handing Constable the lead.

The Audi driver continued to withstand pressure from McGovern in the final laps and held on to score his seventh TCR UK win by just under four tenths from McGovern, with O’Neill-Going completing the podium.

Harry Bloor was fourth in his Honda, ahead of the Hyundai of Rick Kerry in fifth.

Hutchison retired eight laps from the end with an issue on his CUPRA.

Races two and three take place on Sunday, with race two at 10:10 BST.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	7			Jac CONSTABLE	Ravenscroft Motor Company	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	25	20:40.943	48.851	11
2	8			Rod MCGOVERN	Jolt Technologies / Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	25	0.397	48.690	7
3	272			Jenson O’NEILL-GOING	Power Maxed Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	25	1.118	48.732	3
4	11			Harry BLOOR	Mackenzie Miller Homes	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	25	1.488	48.678	10
5	22			Rick KERRY	EDF Motorsports	Hyundai i30 N TCR	25	19.746	49.375	12
6	72			Russell JOYCE	JH Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	25	29.724	49.808	13
7	5			Barry-John MCHENRY	Vannin Motorsport / Dunshauglin Motor Co	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	25	40.603	49.669	15
8	192			Luke ALLEN	Uncle Luke’s Sign & Sticker Shop	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	25	42.648	50.032	14
9	77			Mark SMITH	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	25	45.141	50.017	16
10	19			Jeffrey ALDEN	Matrix Motorsport with Celeski London	Opel Astra TCR	24	+ 1 LAP	50.855	17
R	69			Max HART	ALM with Hall’s Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	20	DNF	48.627	4
R	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	DNF	48.723	6
R	41			Carl BOARDLEY	DTR with CBM	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	6	DNF	49.156	5
R	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	0	DNF	N/A	1
R	38			Lewis KENT	SVG Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	8
R	93			Max HALL	Hall’s Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	2
R	185			Jenson MASON	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	0	DNF	N/A	9