Winfield and Boardley score wins in Oulton Park thriller
Bruce Winfield and Carl Boardley have begun to build a championship lead after both scored a win apiece at Oulton Park in Cheshire for the third race weekend of TCR UK.
Winfield also became the first repeat winner of the season, setting his day up nicely after taking as last-gasp pole position in qualifying earlier in the day, depriving his Area Motorsport Hyundai teammate Alex Ley.
Race 1 - Winfield dropped behind a fast-starting Ley as the lights went out for Race 1, while Chris Smiley also had a great start from fourth on the grid and briefly moved up to third in his Restart Racing Honda Civic, ahead of Jac Constable’s Audi. Ley broke away and built a 1.3 second lead by the end of the first lap over Winfield. Constable grabbed third from Smiley at the Old Hall corner on lap two, leaving the Honda driver to defend from the Hyundai of Adam Shepherd and Carl Boardley’s CUPRA. Winfield then found his groove and began closing on Ley and was helped even further when George Heler’s Paul Sheard Autosport-run Audi went off at the hairpin causing a safety car. At the restart, Ley was forced to defend hard to keep Winfield back, but ultimately failed, with Winfield snatching the lead at the start of lap 11. Winfield then broke away as Ley ended up under attack from Constable, who snatched second place from Ley in a drag race up to the finish line at the end of the 16th lap. Smiley finished fourth, having managed to hold off Boardley throughout the race, but the CUPRA driver had a track limits penalty which dropped him to tenth, which then gave him the perfect starting position for Race 2 with pole.
Race 2 - Boardley got away well from pole, and was being chased by Darelle Wilson’s Vauxhall Astra, while Bradley Hutchison overtook Croft Race 2 winner Jenson Brickley’s CUPRA for third at the start. The race was quickly suspended behind the safety car to recover Callum Newsham’s Hyundai, which had stopped on the formation lap. The race resumed on lap four for just two laps, before Ley clipped a tyre stack and also left his Hyundai stranded on circuit. After the final restart, Wilson battled with Boardley for the lead but to no avail, with Boardley going on to take his maiden win in the championship, having just missed out at Croft after a potential win was lost due to a time penalty. Winfield has now moved up to 189 points in the drivers’ championship, 29 clear of Boardley, with Adam Shepherd now a further 29 points adrift.
The next meeting for TCR UK takes place at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland, with three rounds being held on July 22-23.
Oulton Park – Race 1
1. Bruce Winfield (Area Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 16 laps
2. Jac Constable (Rob Boston Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 2.033
3. Alex Ley (Area Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 2.280
Oulton Park – Race 2
1. Carl Boardley (CBM with Hart GT, CUPRA Leon Competición), 14 laps
2. Darelle Wilson (DW Racing, Vauxhall Astra), 2.552
3. Bradley Hutchison (Bond It with MPHR, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.149
Championship points
1. B. Winfield, 189 pts; 2. C. Boardley, 160; 3. A. Shepherd, 131
Picture: TCR UK/Phil Laughton
