Callum Newsham and Max Hall share victories in TCR UK at Croft

Callum Newsham and Max Hall shared the wins in TCR UK’s races at Croft at the weekend, with wet weather affecting both of Sunday’s races.

Race One

Newsham started the opening race from pole position, thanks to qualifying almost half a second clear of Bradley Hutchison in Saturday’s 20-minute qualifying session, the sole track action for the TCR UK field on the first day of the weekend.

At the start, Newsham was beaten to the first corner by Lewis Kent, whilst further back Max Hall stalled his Honda away from the line for the second event in a row.

SVG Motorsport’s Kent emerged as the leader at the end of the opening lap, but Newsham got a better run exiting the hairpin at the end of the lap to take the lead on the run to the first corner.

Newsham held Kent at bay for the next three laps, before the race had to be neutralised behind the safety car on lap six after Russell Joyce went off on the entry to the complex and crashed head-first into the barriers.

Whilst Joyce was uninjured, the race was ultimately red-flagged with six-and-a-half minutes still on the clock to allow for his Audi to be retrieved.

Racing resumed on lap ten, with Rod McGovern battling past Jenson O’Neill-Going for fifth, with Harry Bloor also getting in the mix in seventh, although unable to find a way past.

However, at the front there were no further changes and Newsham was able to claim his second win of the season by over a second from Kent, whilst Max Hart completed the podium in his Honda.

Two-time champion Carl Boardley was fourth, ahead of a distant McGovern in fifth, who withstood the advances of O’Neill-Going and Bloor for the remainder of the race.

Bradley Hutchison, who had retired from the first part of the race, was able to rejoin the action for the restart, which put him back on the lead lap, and he finished in eighth.

Race Two

Hall had the reverse-grid pole position for the second and final race of the day, with Smith alongside on the front row of the grid.

At the start, Hutchison, from third on the grid, took the lead from Hall into the first corner, whilst further back track space was hotly contested, with several drivers either getting sideways, such as Newsham, or having to cut the corner entirely to avoid contact.

Smith, who had started from second, was quickly shuffled out of position, already into last place after just half a lap.

Hutchison’s lead didn’t even last to the end of the opening lap, however, as his CUPRA slowed on the run to the hairpin at the end of the lap and he retired to the pits with a suspected driveshaft issue.

That left Hall leading from O’Neill-Going, and that remained the order until the end of the race, as Hall went on to claim his maiden victory in TCR UK by 1.7 seconds.

Two-time champion Boardley completed the podium, having got into third on the second lap.

The race had to be neutralised on lap four when Rod McGovern made contact with Harry Bloor at the complex whilst battling for fifth, sending the latter crashing into the barriers, whilst McGovern continued in eighth.

ALM’s Hart finished in fourth, ahead of the Lynk & Co of Kent in fifth, whilst Smith was a lonely sixth, having fallen away from the leading quintet after the safety car returned to the pits at the end of lap seven.

Drama befell Newsham, who had been in fifth behind the safety car, just before the race resumed, as he pitted with an issue on his Hyundai and dropped to the back, rejoining the race two laps down to take the finish in ninth.

O’Neill Going leads the drivers’ championship standings with 142 points ahead of Newsham (137) and Hart (122) etc.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	5	8:58.074	1:30.570	1
2	38			Lewis KENT	SVG Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	5	1.398	1:31.066	3
3	69			Max HART	ALM with Hall’s Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	5	1.761	1:30.926	6
4	41			Carl BOARDLEY	DTR with CBM	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	5	3.686	1:30.996	7
5	8			Rod MCGOVERN	Jolt Technologies / Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	5	14.216	1:33.510	10
6	272			Jenson O’NEILL-GOING	Power Maxed Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	5	14.763	1:33.439	8
7	11			Harry BLOOR	Mackenzie Miller Homes	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	5	15.349	1:33.055	5
8	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	5	17.542	1:33.523	2
9	77			Mark SMITH	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	5	26.703	1:35.587	11
10	93			Max HALL	Hall’s Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	4	+ 1 LAP	1:32.056	4
R	52			Alastair KELLETT	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	0	DNF	N/A	9
R	72			Russell JOYCE	JH Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	0	DNF	N/A	12

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	93			Max HALL	Hall’s Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	21:27.630	1:31.039	1
2	272			Jenson O’NEILL-GOING	Power Maxed Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	1.730	1:31.347	5
3	41			Carl BOARDLEY	DTR with CBM	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	2.352	1:31.063	7
4	69			Max HART	ALM with Hall’s Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	2.892	1:31.030	8
5	38			Lewis KENT	SVG Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	12	3.673	1:31.053	9
6	77			Mark SMITH	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	12	16.249	1:33.249	2
7	8			Rod MCGOVERN	Jolt Technologies / Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	12	17.557	1:32.931	6
8	52			Alastair KELLETT	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	12	18.546	1:32.852	11
9	16			Callum NEWSHAM	JH Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	10	+ 2 LAPS	1:31.376	10
R	11			Harry BLOOR	Mackenzie Miller Homes	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	2	DNF	1:34.515	4
R	17			Bradley HUTCHISON	Capture Motorsport with MPHR	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	1	DNF	N/A	3
NS	72			Russell JOYCE	JH Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	–	DNS	N/A	12