TEAM CUPRA

The Birkett Six Hour Relay race is an eclectic, run-what-ya-brung affair and, while the handicap prize is the coveted main award, there has been increasing competition for scratch-race honours.

Unsurprisingly, rear-wheel-drive cars have dominated down the years, and a saloon-car-based team hadn’t come out on top since the race became a Silverstone Grand Prix circuit fixture in 2010, Radicals winning more often than not.

But the stars aligned for the 68th running in 2018. TCR machinery provided a rapid, robust and reliable basis for

Team Cupra, with TCR UK regulars Stewart Lines and Carl

Swift being joined by multiple club-racing champion brothers Shayne and Lee Deegan in a trio of SEATS.

Although Radical teams, and a squad of Sakers, set the pace initially, as conditions turned wetter the front-wheel-drive cars gained the advantage, and Lines held off Wade Eastwood’s SR3 on a thrilling final lap to win by half a second.