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BTCC aces Turkington, Neal and Shedden get Classic outings

British Touring Car champions Colin Turkington, Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden will contest the Silverstone Classic at the end of this month

Turkington will make his historic-racing debut in the July 25-27 event, competing in the HSCC Super Touring Car Championship race for 1970-2000 touring cars and the Ford Mustang Celebration Trophy.

The 2009 BTCC champion is expecting to share a Sam Thomas Racing-prepared BMW CSL with GT driver Sam Hancock in the Super Touring races, and could drive a Ford Galaxie in the Mustang event, which is open to other tin-tops of the pre-1966 era.

"Sam Thomas runs a car for a friend and the contact came through him," said Turkington, who currently leads the BTCC standings.

"It's my honeymoon - I don't know how I've managed to arrange that!"

HONDA DUO JOIN FORCES

Works Honda team-mates Neal and Shedden are planning to contest the U2TC enduro in a Ford Lotus Cortina.

Neal has bought the ex-Neil Brown car for Team Dynamics to prepare and has already tested it.

"The whole classic scene is growing massively and it's something I've always fancied having a go at," he said.

"I've got to say it's something of a learning curve - I was braking twice as early as I normally would and still didn't think I was going to stop.

"I guess it'll be the first time we'll have shared a car in the same race. I'm looking forward to it."

Shedden, who hopes to test the Cortina soon, added: "We'll have a blast. It'll be some light relief after a couple of difficult BTCC weekends for Matt. I did have to chuckle when he told me we'd need to get some in-car cameras sorted.

"I asked if they would be for data-gathering, and he said, 'No, it's because it's my car and I want to make sure you're not beating the hell out of it!'

"Of course the race will be primarily for fun, but we will go out there and do the best job we can."

GOODWOOD REVIVALISTS

Turkington, Neal and Shedden are also among a number of BTCC stars set to compete at the Goodwood Revival on September 12-14.

Neal is to share an Austin A35 with Brown, a Studebaker with Nick Whale and a Sunbeam Tiger with Chris Beighton in the RAC TT Celebration.

"I've not done a lot at Goodwood, but I'm looking forward to it, nervously," said the triple BTCC champion.

"I drove Chris's Sunbeam in the damp a couple of years ago and it scared the crap out of me!"

Reigning champion Andrew Jordan will share the family Austin A40 with his father, Eurotech boss Mike Jordan, and could drive in two other races, while Turkington could share an entry with Thomas. Mat Jackson is also set to take part sharing Henry Mann's Ford Mustang.

For more on the Silverstone Classic and the Goodwood Revival, check out this week's AUTOSPORT magazine, available now.

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