Adam Shepherd was one of a number of drivers to join Monlau Motorsport as part of an evaluation for the 2026 TCR Europe season, with the newly-crowned TCR UK champion setting laps behind the wheel of the team’s CUPRA Leon VZ TCR, the car and team which has won the last two TCR Europe drivers’ championships.

Fresh after securing the TCR UK title last weekend at Brands Hatch, the 33-year-old took part in a test alongside other drivers at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the Spanish team, with an eye to joining the drivers’ and teams’ champions in next year’s TCR Europe season.

“It’s been brilliant. I’ve only ever done four laps at the circuit before, and for me it’s a different tyre and a different team, so we started off finding our feet, and by the end of the day we were really fast, almost as quick as anyone’s been in a CUPRA around here which is really cool,” said Shepherd.

“Our plan for next year is we want to do TCR Europe with Monlau. We need to find our budget and then there’s whether they’ll have us, so nothing’s secured.

“In all the racing I’ve done I’ve always engineered my own car, so coming to a team that does that for you is really different and we’ve settled in really well.  I’m  working really well together with Jonathan, my engineer, who understands what I want. Usually, I’d come in and say change this, change that, and now I’m telling them what the car’s doing and they react to that, which is a very new way of  working for me.”

Team manager David Simon confirms the Montmelo-based team hopes to finalise its line-up for 2026 in the coming weeks with an expanded line-up, after winning the drivers’, teams’, and youth titles this year with Jenson Brickley and Eric Gené.

“We’re preparing for next season, and trying some different technical solutions with the car,” said Simon.

“We were pleased to have Adam Shepherd, the current TCR UK champion, join us for the test. The test went well, we showed the drivers the potential of the car and our team, and our ways of working. We’d be pleased to have them as drivers for Monlau, but it’s just an initial test. The drivers were fast and the debriefs went well. We hope to complete our line-up for 2026 in the next few weeks. Our plan is to run three cars in TCR Europe next year, and the goal of the team is to repeat the success of the past.”