How a new BTCC legend is being made

Gordon Shedden must now be considered one of the British Touring Car greats after securing his third crown at Brands Hatch at the start of October.

The 37-year-old bounced back brilliantly this season after various setbacks and - for the second year in a row - pulled off the overtaking moves he needed to secure the crown at the Brands finale.

Shedden has been a BTCC race winner since 2006, but he has really become a force since the arrival of the NGTC regulations in '12 - 24 of his 45 race victories have come in that time.

That puts him second in the list of race winners since 2012 only to Jason Plato (on 27) and just ahead of Colin Turkington (on 22). It also compares favourably with long-time BTCC favourite Matt Neal, who has scored 16 victories in that same timeframe as Shedden's team-mate.

With his victories this year, the Scot has now moved up to third place in the all-time race-winners list in the BTCC, although this statistic is rather skewed now that there are three opportunities per race meeting to succeed.

His win percentage is also right up there among the best - higher than team-mate Neal, and Turkington too.

And yet, despite all that success, Shedden is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Neal, Plato, Alain Menu or four-time title winner Andy Rouse. And he really should be.

TOP 10 BTCC WINNERS SINCE 2012
1 Jason Plato 27
2 Gordon Shedden 24
3 Colin Turkington 22
4 Matt Neal 16
5 Mat Jackson 14
6 Andrew Jordan 13
7 Rob Collard 9
8 Sam Tordoff 6
9 Adam Morgan 4
10 Aron Smith 4

One of the things that some believe counts against Shedden is that he has yet to win a championship in a different team, or even a different car.

The Civic he used in 2012 was closely related to the Civic Type R he has taken to success for the last two years. Plato, by contrast, has won crowns with Vauxhall and Chevrolet, and put together title challenges with SEAT, MG and Volkswagen.

Honda's NGTC record is remarkable. It has won 51 of the 150 BTCC races since the first NGTC Civic was introduced. And that's despite the success ballast and reversed-grid races that have helped make the championship so competitive in recent years.

Of those 51, 47 have been scored by the hatchback Civic (the other four - three of which were taken by Shedden - came with the Tourer estate in 2014). That makes it by far the most successful model. Next up are the BMW 125i M Sport with 25 and MG6 GT on 24.

ITV commentator Tim Harvey thinks that the association with Honda - and Neal particularly - could be one of the reasons that Shedden has yet to be catapulted into the big league in the eyes of many.

"The thing with Gordon is that his success has come alongside Neal at Honda," says the 1992 champion. "He came into the team back in 2006 and he was very much the understudy to Neal.

"You can see the reverence that the team has for Matt - he is still thought of as the main man in that squad, and Gordon can't escape that while he's there. He has been brought up under the shadow of Neal.

"If Gordon had come up through another team, or been the team leader somewhere else, then there might be a different perception of him.

"That's a hard thing to shake off - but then again, why would you ever want to leave the team? The record of success it has had is incredible, so you wouldn't want to change that, would you?"

SHEDDEN'S TEAM BREAKDOWN
2010-present: Honda/Team Dynamics (works team)
Team-mates: Matt Neal, Andy Neate (one round)

2009: Team Dynamics (independent, part-season)
Team-mates: Adam Jones (one round)

2008: Team Dynamics (constructor)
Team-mate: Tom Chilton

2006-07: Team Dynamics (independent)
Team-mates: Matt Neal, Gareth Howell (part season)

So as well as breaking out from that perception that Neal is the team leader, there is another factor that Shedden needs in order to reach the stratosphere of the championship's acknowledged masters.

All of those who are thought of as a modern great - Plato, Neal, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Yvan Muller et al - have been in a one-on-one dogfight to win their titles. Even Harvey himself had a tempestuous relationship with his rival John Cleland.

It's going toe-to-toe (and winning) that really cements a racer's reputation in the minds of the trackside and TV fans.

Shedden has yet to experience that. While he was learning his craft from 2006-09, there were no frontline battles to be drawn. From '11 onwards, he has never been out of the top three of the championship, but the major thorn in his side has been Neal.

With team orders in place and Honda happy to play the team-mate, the fireworks between the two sister cars are never likely to spark into life.

"The public do like a bit of a rivalry, and they like it when a driver can beat another in a head-to-head fight," says Harvey.

"The only one who Shedden would really be able to measure himself against in that regard would be Matt, but they are in the same team. When you look back, that has not really happened in the modern generation since Triple Eight ran Plato and Muller back in 2001."

There is no question when you watch Shedden trackside that he is at the height of his powers. His skill at overtaking is one of the strongest weapons in his armoury, and he also has a remarkable knack for keeping out of the trouble that plagues most of the races in the BTCC.

If there is a position out there to be won, then Shedden will roll up his sleeves and go out there and battle for it.

Since 2012, he has scored more points per race than anyone else at the forefront of the championship, including Plato, Neal, Turkington and Andrew Jordan.

Along with the reversed grids and success ballast, there has also been engine equalisation, with the cars having their turbo performance altered to maintain a level playing field. This has been controversial.

Several drivers have chosen to publicly let off steam about this when it isn't going their way, and Shedden used to be among them. He is not alone. Neal wasn't backward in putting his point across, and Plato still is - indeed, he caused a right rumpus this season when he declared that he thought his Subaru was being unfairly held back.

But all of the complaining hardly endears drivers to the public - particularly when they are in race-winning cars. It's hard for the fans to understand drivers' complaints when they are verbalising them from the top step of the rostrum.

But that is merely an aside.

TOP 10 ALL-TIME BTCC WINNERS
1 Jason Plato 95
2 Andy Rouse 60
3 Matt Neal 59
4 Gordon Shedden 45
5 Colin Turkington 41
6= Alain Menu/Yvan Muller/James Thompson 36
9 Frank Gardner 35
10 Mat Jackson 30

Breaking down the race wins, the points average, the podiums and the titles that he's won, Shedden's track record stands shoulder to shoulder with those who have been acknowledged as the category's finest.

One of the advantages that Shedden has is his age. The Fife flier will turn 38 before the start of the next campaign at Brands Hatch on April 1-2. That means he has more than a decade on Neal, 49, and Plato, also 49, and he has a long career in the top flight ahead of him.

Neal and Plato will not be around forever, and then Shedden will get his own share of the limelight alongside the other frontrunners like Turkington, Jordan and Mat Jackson.

Maybe that will be the factor that finally cements him in the highest echelon where he belongs.