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Turkington and Shedden voted the best drivers by team bosses

By MJP Media | 14 November 2016

Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington were the best British Touring Car Championship drivers in 2016, according to an exclusive poll of touring car team managers this week.

Colin Turkington in his Subaru Levorg GT

Shedden, who lifted the Drivers' Championship crown in the Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R, and Turkington, who placed fourth in his Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Levorg GT, could not be separated by the 17 team managers who selected their top drivers of the season. The only stipulation in voting was that the team managers could not nominate drivers from their own squads.

Meanwhile, Silverline Subaru BMR Racing's James Cole recently completed two solid days of testing as preparations for the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gather pace. Cole enjoyed trouble free runs at Donington Park - the scene of his fiery moment earlier in the year - as the multiple race-winning outfit looks to make up for lost time.

Gordon Shedden's championship winning Honda Civic Type R

"We've managed to get a lot of mileage in across the two days." he said. "We're carrying out all of the things that we'd liked to have done pre-2016 and it has gone really well. It hasn't been about lap times but more about trying set-ups A, B and C, working out what works and what doesn't. Of course, we practically missed the first three events of the year so it's also good to get some solid data at Donington."

Elsewhere, Will Burns will become the latest rookie on the grid for the 2017 BTCC season having put pen to paper with Team HARD. The 2016 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup runner-up is to compete in one of the team's newly-acquired trio of Volkswagen CCs - a car with an undoubted track record of success in recent seasons. Burns will make the step up to the BTCC following perhaps the most successful of five seasons in the single-make Ginetta competition. "I am absolutely delighted to be stepping up to the British Touring Car Championship." said Burns.

Tom Onslow-Cole gave the CC its first BTCC podium finish in 2013

Burns continued: "I've watched the BTCC since I was a child, and when I started racing back in 2011 I could have never imagined I'd be on the grid. I'm under no illusions as to the size of the challenge ahead. It's the pinnacle of British motorsport and it's going to be a steep learning curve for me, but I really can't wait to get the season started at Brands Hatch in April."

Team HARD has decided to reacquire the Volkswagen CCs after securing a deal to purchase three of the race-winning machines. The Kent-based squad originally built, prepared and ran the cars in the BTCC back in 2013, taking a double podium at Thruxton in only the third event of the season. After taking a sabbatical from the series during the following year, the VWs have since been run by Team BMR and more recently BKR.

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