BTCC – Shedden takes race two and retakes the championship lead

Shedden leads on lap one (Photo by Marc Waller)

Shedden leads on lap one (Photo by Marc Waller)Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden went one better than race one with a dominant victory in race two at Rockingham.

He’s having a great Sunday after Saturday ended on a sour note with his four place grid penalty.

He made a brilliant start off the line and set such a fast pace in the opening laps that he stretched out a three second lead. He then never looked back and took his fourth win of the season as well as retaking the championship lead from Jason Plato. Shedden was a very happy man after the race;

“It just goes to show how quickly it can all change, I’m really thankful for the two results but we’ve still got one to go today and I’m sure it will keep twisting and turning all the way until the end of the season.”

Jackson had a strong race again but couldn’t get close to Shedden this time but second place was another strong result for Motorbase especially as Jackson had full success ballast on the car. Jackson was pleased with his and the car’s performance;

“Second with 75kgs is a great result,” said Jackson. “The car stood up to it and we were reasonably close to Gordon. We came here to get podiums and wins and that’s what we’ve done. It has been a brilliant job by the team and we’re learning more all the time.”

Collard and Ingram get a bit too close (Photo by Marc Waller) Hunter Abbott ran strongly from ninth until a run in with Jason Plato (Photo by Marc Waller) There were close battles for the top ten positions (Photo by Marc Waller) Shedden was too fast for his rivals (Photo by Marc Waller) Shedden wins (Photo by Marc Waller) Shedden looks pleased to have retaken the championship lead (Photo by Marc Waller) The top three (Photo by Marc Waller)

If the first two places were straight forward, the fight for third certainly wasn’t. Adam Morgan was initially third after drooping back from his second on the grid but he couldn’t keep back, Power Maxed’s Josh Cook who was having one of his best races for a while as he fought through from fourteenth on the grid. He was up to ninth on the first lap alone and then fought through to battle and beat Morgan on the final lap for the final podium slot. He was driving like a champion as he passed drivers with ease including BMR’s Colin Turkington, the reigning champion who he got past on lap eight. He caught Morgan as the penultimate lap got underway and tried first at the Tarzan hairpin but couldn’t find a way past. But at the same place on the final lap he slipped past to take third place as his team cheered him across the line. Cook was happy to take his first overall podium finish;

“The car has performed really well, it’s really special to get our first podium, and to do it in race two, on true pace, is fantastic.”

Matt Neal had a good drive to fifth, making some great passes on the way and importantly scoring more championship points. Rob Austin’s Audi was sixth on a circuit which is usually strong for the Excocet Alcosense Audi. Jason Plato made his way up to seventh from his twelfth place start just ahead of team mate Turkington with Jack Goff behind them in ninth. Plato had looked set for ninth until he made a late move to pass both Goff and Turkington at the same time.

Tom Ingram continued his strong weekend with tenth but this gave him the chance to do something even better in race three as he was drawn on pole for the reverse grid race.

Hunter Abbott had looked set for the top ten but was spun off by the charging Plato and he dropped to the rear of the field. He could only recover to twenty third by the end. Aron Smith couldn’t get close to his race one pace and took eleventh for Team BMR just ahead of Andrew Jordan, still not at the front where he wants to be. Aiden Moffat scored points after his race one disappointment in thirteenth ahead of Sam Tordoff, who had a difficult race but still finished as the best WSR car as the team seems to be having a tough weekend. Nick Foster missed out on the points in sixteenth and Collard finished last after an off.

Eurotech racing’s Jeff Smith took the final point in fifteenth.

Full results are on TSL Timing By Marc Waller

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