Brands Hatch BTCC: Gordon Shedden wins soaking finale for Honda
Gordon Shedden ended the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season with a superb win in wet conditions on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit
The works Honda Civic Tourer driver started fifth but, after a brief safety car period, Shedden passed Jack Goff's Volkswagen CC into Druids and dived by the WSR BMW of Nick Foster at Hawthorns.
Shedden then closed on the Motorbase Ford Focus of Jack Clarke. The former single-seater racer started on pole, lost out to Foster, and then retook the lead during the most impressive drive of his BTCC career.
The Scot was nevertheless faster and when Clarke defended the inside into Westfield on lap four, 2012 champion Shedden got a better run through the corner and took the lead on the exit.
Shedden was 1.3 seconds clear by the end of the lap and was nearly six seconds ahead when an off for Martin Depper's Eurotech Honda Civic brought out the safety car once more.
At the restart, Shedden easily pulled clear to take his third victory of the season.
Clarke held off first Goff, who retired with a steamed-up windscreen, then Aron Smith's BMR VW and finally team-mate Mat Jackson.
Jackson had tapped Smith at Druids after the second restart, taking third and allowing Sam Tordoff to attack the VW.
Tordoff got by, was repassed at Surtees, and finally made the place his own into Hawthorns to secure fourth.
Smith then fell back and finished just ahead of Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda and Jason Plato, who starred in the difficult conditions.
After his penalty from race two, Plato started the finale from the pitlane but scythed through the field.
He caught Jordan and went side-by-side with the outgoing champion through Surtees, but had to settle for seventh.
Newly crowned champion Colin Turkington rose from row 12 into the top 10, but started to struggle in the closing stages. An off at Surtees on the final lap dropped him back to 20th.
RESULTS - 15 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gordon Shedden | Team Dynamics | Honda | 28m42.621s |
2 | Jack Clarke | Motorbase | Ford | 3.614s |
3 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 4.426s |
4 | Sam Tordoff | Triple Eight | MG | 4.758s |
5 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 7.083s |
6 | Andrew Jordan | Eurotech | Honda | 8.523s |
7 | Jason Plato | Triple Eight | MG | 9.192s |
8 | Nick Foster | WSR | BMW | 14.286s |
9 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 14.947s |
10 | Marc Hynes | Triple Eight | MG | 15.405s |
11 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 16.642s |
12 | Dave Newsham | AmD | Ford | 17.703s |
13 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Motorbase | Ford | 18.736s |
14 | Lea Wood | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 19.544s |
15 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 22.751s |
16 | Aiden Moffat | Moffat | Chevrolet | 22.968s |
17 | Luke Hines | United Autosports | Toyota | 25.542s |
18 | Simon Belcher | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 26.861s |
19 | James Cole | United Autosports | Toyota | 29.721s |
20 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 30.453s |
21 | Ollie Jackson | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 33.474s |
- | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | Retirement |
- | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | Retirement |
- | Chris Stockton | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | Retirement |
- | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Jack Goff | Team BMR | Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Alain Menu | Team BMR | Volkswagen | Not started |
- | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | Retirement |
FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Colin Turkington | 434 |
2 | Jason Plato | 399 |
3 | Gordon Shedden | 349 |
4 | Mat Jackson | 316 |
5 | Andrew Jordan | 310 |
6 | Rob Collard | 277 |
7 | Sam Tordoff | 255 |
8 | Matt Neal | 207 |
9 | Aron Taylor-Smith | 201 |
10 | Adam Morgan | 185 |
11 | Alain Menu | 176 |
12 | Rob Austin | 147 |
13 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | 138 |
14 | Tom Ingram | 121 |
15 | Jack Goff | 119 |
16 | Nick Foster | 101 |
17 | Dave Newsham | 70 |
18 | Marc Hynes | 54 |
19 | Jack Clarke | 50 |
20 | Hunter Abbott | 20 |
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