Silverstone BTCC: Gordon Shedden wins and stays in title hunt

Colin Turkington took the lead off the startline in his WSR BMW, leading poleman Matt Neal's Honda.

Third-placed Sam Tordoff attacked Neal, and after contact at Brooklands and Luffield, Tordoff spun around Neal's bows on the exit of Luffield on lap two.

Shedden was already up to fifth by the end of the first lap, and gained two places as Tordoff spun and Neal was delayed. He passed Aron Smith's Motorbase Ford at Brooklands on lap seven, then chased down Turkington.

Just as he got on terms, there was a quick safety car interlude for marshals to pick up debris at Woodcote. At the restart, Shedden got a great run through Copse and breezed past Turkington before Maggotts.

Smith further demoted Turkington at Becketts, but Shedden was able to make a break at the front and would win by two seconds.

Neal passed Turkington for third at Becketts on lap 20, and then, a lap later, Turkington found himself spinning around.

His rear suspension appeared to have broken, but whether that was due to contact from a close-following Mat Jackson or a failure is not yet clear.

Neal's third place means he is Andrew Jordan's closest title rival going into the Brands Hatch finale, 34 points in arrears.

Jordan finished fifth, ahead of Dave Newsham and Jason Plato.

Shedden's victory puts him within 35 points of Jordan, with Turkington's exit leaving him 48 points adrift, and Plato 49 behind.

Results - 23 laps:

Pos  Driver            Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Gordon Shedden    Honda              23m07.578s
 2.  Aron Smith        Motorbase Ford        +2.045s
 3.  Matt Neal         Honda                 +3.710s
 4.  Mat Jackson       Motorbase Ford        +4.935s
 5.  Andrew Jordan     Eurotech Honda        +5.647s
 6.  Dave Newsham      Spedworks Toyota      +5.920s
 7.  Jason Plato       MG                    +6.412s
 8.  Adam Morgan       Ciceley Toyota        +6.737s
 9.  Jack Goff         Hard Vauxhall         +7.241s
10.  Daniel Welch      Welch Proton          +7.581s
11.  Nick Foster       WSR BMW               +7.856s
12.  Rob Collard       WSR BMW               +8.009s
13.  Tom Onslow-Cole   Motorbase Ford        +8.378s
14.  Sam Tordoff       MG                   +11.101s
15.  Howard Fuller     Hard VW              +14.761s
16.  Warren Scott      BMR VW               +15.904s
17.  Rob Austin        Austin Audi          +16.484s
18.  Andy Neate        IP Chevrolet         +18.241s
19.  Aiden Moffat      Hard VW              +20.171s
20.  Lea Wood          Wood Vauxhall        +27.278s*

Retirements:

     Colin Turkington  WSR BMW               21 laps
     Ollie Jackson     Speedworks Toyota     13 laps
     Will Bratt        Austin Audi            7 laps

* S2000