Constable and Brickley claim race wins in TCR UK at Croft

Jac Constable and Jenson Brickley took a win each in the two races of the TCR UK at Croft, with Constable also making history as he scored the first win for an Audi in the series. Constable, who had a tough opener at Snetterton last month to the point where he went into the race weekend on -6 points, scored a last-gasp pole position in his Rob Boston Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, depriving the CUPRA of Carl Boardley in the final minutes.

Race 1 - At the start of the race, Boardley got the jump on Constable and led into the first corner, while reigning champion Chris Smiley was up to third from fifth on the grid in his Restart Racing Honda Civic. Constable made an attempt to take the lead back from Boardley on lap 3, but was forced wide and dropped several seconds back, but soon closed back on the CUPRA driver. On lap 11, Smiley slowed out of third place with an electrical issue, promoting the Hyundai Veloster of Bradley Kent to third place.

Constable then ran wide at Tower, losing about five seconds to Boardley, while at the same time it was confirmed that the leader had a five second penalty for multiple abuses of track limits. It was then a race against time, as Constable needed to stay within five seconds of Boardley to snatch the victory, just doing so as he was 4.1 seconds behind at the finish. Kent completed the podium.

Race 2 - The top ten were reversed, with Alex Ley’s Area Motorsport Hyundai starting from pole, but as in Race 1 it was the driver on the outside who had a better start, in this case it was Bradley Hutchison in his Audi. Hutchison was fighting to hold on to the lead, running wide at Tower on lap two and losing several positions, with Ley assuming the lead ahead of Brickley’s CUPRA. Brickley then overtook Ley on lap 3, with Ley’s teammate Adam Shepherd getting ahead of him as well before the end of the lap.

The race was held up briefly when Dan Kirby’s CUPRA went off at the final hairpin on lap 6, with a safety car called but soon cancelled after Kirby was able to extract himself from the tyre barrier; the race resumed just as Brickley and Shepherd had given up their seven-second lead. On lap 9, Constable passed Callum Newsham, but then he made contact with Kent at the Complex, knocking him into Ley; both Ley and Kent were out of the race.

Up front, Brickley again built a lead over Shepherd, crossing the line three seconds clear, while Joe Marshall completed the podium in his Rob Boston Racing Audi.

Bruce Winfield finished Race 1 in seventh, and Race 2 in fourth place, and continues to lead the drivers’ championship on 120 points, 11 points clear of Boardley.

The next round of the championship takes place at Oulton Park, on June 9/10.

Croft – Race 1

1. Jac Constable (Rob Boston Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 18 laps

2. Carl Boardley (CBM with Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.862

3. Bradley Kent (Essex & Kent Motorsport, Hyundai Veloster N), 4.649

Croft – Race 2

1. Jenson Brickley (Jenson Brickley Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 18 laps

2. Adam Shepherd (Area Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 3.014

3. Joe Marshall (Rob Boston Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 4.466

Championship points

1. B. Winfield, 120 pts; 2. C. Boardley, 109; 3. J. Marshall, 91 

Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey