BTCC Thruxton: Shedden leads Neal for Honda 1-2 in race one

The two Civic Type-Rs passed polesitter Aron Smith at the start, Shedden immediately outdragging the Volkswagen CC as it spun its wheels and Neal squeezing through before Allard.

Shedden immediately edged clear, opening up a 1.3-second advantage on the first lap and stretching that to 2.5s at one stage before easing off at the end.

Neal extended his championship lead with second, while Adam Morgan claimed third after Smith's VW suffered a left-front puncture with just over three laps remaining.

Morgan had shadowed Neal and Smith closely and took the final place on the rostrum when Smith ran wide at Village and was forced to pit for a new tyre, dropping him to 21st.

His woes left Jason Plato the lead Team BMR car in fourth, having passed Andy Priaulx at the chicane early on, and the double champion will start race two from pole having set the fastest lap.

WSR's three-time world champion wound up fifth - where he started - despite suffering two big lock-ups early on and dropping back to eighth at one stage.

Priaulx's mini-recovery, and Andrew Jordan's rise to sixth from 11th, was sparked by a mistake from the latter's MG team-mate Jack Goff.

The Triple Eight man got out of shape at the chicane three laps from the end and Priaulx, having got back ahead of WSR team-mate Rob Collard, darted between Goff and a muted Colin Turkington to take fifth at Allard on the penultimate lap.

Turkington got ahead of Goff through the Complex but was tagged by the MG at Seagrave, allowing Jordan to draft past both on the short run to Noble.

Goff, who will line up alongside Plato on the front row for race two, survived a final-lap lunge from Josh Cook to hold on to eighth behind Turkington. Tom Ingram completed the top 10.

RESULTS - 16 LAPS:

RACE TWO GRID: