Why the BTCC elite should fear Shedden's return

OPINION: The British Touring Car Championship Lord taketh away Dan Cammish, then giveth Gordon Shedden. That means substituting what would have been a future champion with an all-time series great with a point to prove on his return

Twelve months or so before the Chinese city of Wuhan gained notoriety as the source of COVID-19, its main recognition among UK motorsport fans was as the location of a breakthrough win in the World Touring Car Cup for Gordon Shedden.

That was as good as it got for ‘Flash’ during his 2018-19 stint with Audi in the series. And, when the Ingolstadt manufacturer pulled its official backing of TCR competition, he was left high and dry last season. Now Shedden, a three-time title winner in the British Touring Car Championship, is back where he belongs for 2021: at the wheel of a Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R. It’s the same team, manufacturer and, indeed, car model with which he claimed all three of his crowns.

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Author Marcus Simmons

Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.

Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.