Oulton Park BTCC: Honda's Gordon Shedden battles to win in finale
Reigning champion Gordon Shedden won the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Oulton Park to solidify his position at the head of the standings
Shedden fought a huge battle to unseat reversed grid polesitter Josh Cook's Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus from second place over the opening laps as both trailed Andrew Jordan's fast-starting WSR BMW 125i M Sport.
On lap four, Shedden made contact with Cook as the pair approached Old Hall corner, which broke the suspension on Cook's car and ruled him out of the running.
There was a long mid-race safety car period when Aiden Moffat was fired into the tyre wall at Hilltop just before half-distance.
The race was neutralised for five laps, and at the restart, Jordan was immediately under pressure from the pair of factory Hondas.
Going into Cascades with three laps to go, Shedden lunged down the inside of Jordan.
"I didn't expect to make the move there," said Shedden.
"I don't know if Andrew had not been able to turn his tyres on after the caution period, but my car was on fire.
"Andrew braked a little bit early at Cascades and I had to go to the inside so I did not hit him."
Jordan was slightly off line after the move, and that allowed Neal to capitalise and make a pass as the cars went into the Island hairpin.
Behind the top three, race two winner Ash Sutton performed heroics in the Team BMR Subaru Levorg to keep firstly Rob Collard and then Colin Turkington behind him.
The two WSR BMWs were pushing him hard throughout but were unable to unseat the estate-shaped car.
Turkington's fifth spot was earned despite the fact he started 13th after an electrical problem earlier in the day.
Rob Austin was seventh and the leading independent runner in his Handy Toyota, ahead of Mike Epps' Team Hard VW CC and the sister VW of Jake Hill.
Motorbase Performance Ford Focus racer Luke Davenport rounded out the top 10.
RESULTS - 18 LAPS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 29m41.142s |
| 2 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 0.279s |
| 3 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 1.722s |
| 4 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 4.272s |
| 5 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 4.375s |
| 6 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 4.590s |
| 7 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 5.509s |
| 8 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 7.045s |
| 9 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 8.418s |
| 10 | Luke Davenport | Motorbase | Ford | 8.736s |
| 11 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 9.077s |
| 12 | Daniel Lloyd | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 9.414s |
| 13 | Dave Newsham | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | 9.789s |
| 14 | Matt Simpson | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 10.248s |
| 15 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 10.605s |
| 16 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 11.412s |
| 17 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | Ford | 12.041s |
| 18 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 12.099s |
| 19 | Tom Chilton | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 12.505s |
| 20 | Chris Smiley | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | 13.958s |
| 21 | Ant Whorton-Eales | AmD Tuning | Audi | 15.882s |
| 22 | Will Burns | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 16.786s |
| 23 | Martin Depper | Motorbase | Ford | 19.397s |
| 24 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 19.419s |
| 25 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 27.750s |
| 26 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 33.920s |
| 27 | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 1 Lap |
| - | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | Not classified |
| - | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | Retirement |
| - | Josh Cook | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | Retirement |
| - | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | Retirement |
| - | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | Not started |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon Shedden | 157 |
| 2 | Rob Collard | 141 |
| 3 | Tom Ingram | 132 |
| 4 | Colin Turkington | 126 |
| 5 | Matt Neal | 124 |
| 6 | Ash Sutton | 112 |
| 7 | Andrew Jordan | 98 |
| 8 | Adam Morgan | 96 |
| 9 | Jack Goff | 90 |
| 10 | Rob Austin | 83 |
| 11 | Aiden Moffat | 66 |
| 12 | Josh Cook | 58 |
| 13 | Mat Jackson | 56 |
| 14 | Tom Chilton | 47 |
| 15 | Michael Epps | 39 |
| 16 | Dave Newsham | 35 |
| 17 | Jake Hill | 32 |
| 18 | Jeff Smith | 25 |
| 19 | Aron Taylor-Smith | 18 |
| 20 | Jason Plato | 18 |
| 21 | Matt Simpson | 15 |
| 22 | Senna Proctor | 12 |
| 23 | Luke Davenport | 6 |
| 24 | Daniel Lloyd | 6 |
| 25 | Ollie Jackson | 5 |
| 26 | Ant Whorton-Eales | 4 |
| 27 | Chris Smiley | 1 |
| 28 | Josh Price | 1 |
| 29 | Martin Depper | 1 |
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