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Gordon Shedden's BTCC Championship Year: Part 1

By MJP Media | 23 October 2015

In this special feature, we look back at the first half of the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship which was won by Gordon Shedden and look at the highs and lows of his title-winning season.

Gordon Shedden with his first winners' trophy of the 2015 season

Brands Hatch (Indy)

With 5 former BTCC champions contesting the title, the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was always going to provide the close, exciting racing that has become synonymous with Britain's premier motor sport series. The free practice sessions at the opening meeting of the year didn't go well for Gordon Shedden who was last in the 1st session and 8th in the 2nd. Defending champion Colin Turkington produced the best time around the Kent circuit in his Team BMR Volkswagen CC.

With the first qualifying honours of the season going to Team IHG Rewards Club driver Andy Priaulx and three BMR drivers in the next three positions, Shedden had to settle for 7th on the grid for the first race behind Rob Collard and Jack Goff. Collard went on to win race 1 with Shedden finishing 6th, however with Shedden posting the 3rd fastest lap time, he stated race 2 in the 2nd row of the grid and went on to win it to record his first victory of the year.

The reverse grid draw could not have been worse for Shedden with 10 cars being reversed for the final race of the day putting him on the 5th row of the grid. His race then fell apart, retiring after just 7 laps. The single championship point he earned from posting the fastest lap would have been no consolation to the Scot who left Brands Hatch 5th in the championship standings behind Matt Neal, Jack Goff, Aron Smith and Andy Priaulx.

Donington Park

Although unable to top the time sheets in the free practice and qualifying sessions at Donington Park, Gordon Shedden still managed to stay in contention, posting the 2nd fastest time in all the sessions and qualifying his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Type R on the front row of the grid behind Colin Turkington.

Race 1 was won by Jason Plato with Shedden 2nd ahead of pole-sitter Colin Turkington and by posting the fastest lap time, Shedden started race 2 in pole position. Unfortunately the soft option tyres on Shedden's Honda Civic Type R faded during the race and he finished in 14th place whilst Colin Turkington took the race win for Team BMR ahead of Matt Neal in 2nd place.

Starting race 3 on the 7th row of the grid, Shedden had his work cut out however he managed to finish 3rd from 14th on the grid with team-mate Matt Neal taking the win ahead of Andrew Jordan in the MG 888 Racing MG 6GT. With two good results from the three races at Donington Park, Shedden had moved up to 3rd in the championship which was still being led by Matt Neal but now with Colin Turkington in 2nd place.

The Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Type R of Gordon Shedden

Thruxton

Thruxton in Hampshire is the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar and this appeared to favour the Team BMR Volkswagen CCs with Jason Plato and Aron Smith topping the timesheets in free practice and Smith taking pole position in qualifying. The Hondas were also on the pace with Gordon Shedden qualifying 2nd and Matt Neal 3rd for Honda Yuasa Racing.

The Hondas continued their run of good form around the Thruxton circuit with Shedden leading team-mate Neal to a 1-2 victory in the first race of the day. Shedden started the second race from the 2nd row of the grid and finished 3rd behind Jason Plato and Rob Collard. The reverse grid draw put Shedden on row 3 of the grid for the final race of the day.

With Adam Morgan winning race 3 for WIX Racing ahead of Andrew Jordan, Sam Tordoff and Colin Turkington, Shedden finished 5th with Matt Neal 6th. With two podium finishes at Thruxton, Shedden was now leading the Drivers' Championship on 114 points with Colin Turkington 2nd on 106, Matt Neal 3rd on 103 and Jason Plato 4th on 102.

Oulton Park

Both Honda Yuasa Racing drivers struggled during free practice at the picturesque Cheshire circuit, finding themselves 9th and 10th in the first session and 8th and 10th in the second. Qualifying went a little better with Matt Neal 2nd however Gordon Shedden was 5th, putting him on the 3rd row of the grid for the first race of the day.

The race 1 victory went to Jason Plato with Matt Neal 2nd and Andy Priaulx 3rd. Shedden held on for 6th place, one place down from his starting grid position, however by posting the 2nd fastest lap time, started race 2 on the front row of the grid alongside Jason Plato. Shedden held on to his starting position during the race, finishing in 2nd place however Jason Plato was on a charge, collecting his 2nd race win of the day.

Sam Tordoff won the reverse grid race for JCT600 Racing with GardX in his BMW 125i M Sport with Andrew Jordan 2nd. The Honda Yuasa Racing duo finished 3rd and 4th in their Honda Civic Type Rs with Matt Neal edging out Gordon Shedden to take the final podium position. Despite a good set of results from the day's races for Gordon Shedden, Jason Plato's two victories put him at the top of the championship standings on 157 points with Shedden now 2nd on 154 and Matt Neal 3rd on 149.

Gordon Shedden on the podium with team-mate Matt Neal

Croft

Following on from his success at Oulton Park, Sam Tordoff continued to show his form at Croft where he was quickest in the free practice sessions. He then went on to put his JCT600 Racing with GardX BMW 125i M Sport on pole position alongside team-mate Andy Priaulx in the qualifying session. Gordon Shedden qualified 3rd with Rob Collard in 4th and Colin Turkington, the only Team BMR driver to make it into the top 10, in 5th.

The first race of the day was a 1-2-3 podium lockout for BMW with Andy Priaulx winning ahead of Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard. Honda Yuasa Racing was 4th and 5th with Gordon Shedden ahead of team-mate Matt Neal. Having qualified mid-field, Jason Plato sacrificed race 1 to try and get a good grid position for race 2 by posting a fast lap time at the back of the field. His plan worked, finishing race 2 in 2nd place behind Sam Tordoff and in front of team-mate Colin Turkington. Gordon Shedden finished 5th behind Andy Priaulx.

The BMWs continued their dominance of the North Yorkshire circuit with Rob Collard winning the reverse grid race ahead of team-mate Andy Priaulx. The 'best of the rest' was Gordon Shedden who completed the podium positions with a 3rd place finish while Colin Turkington and Jason Plato finished 4th and 5th. Despite not reaching the top step of the podium at Croft, consistent scoring by Gordon Shedden had put him back on top of the championship standings with 195 points, 10 points ahead of Jason Plato, as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship entered its Summer Break.

Continued in Part 2.

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