Jason Plato has won the final race of the day at Brands Hatch but even this wasn’t enough as Gordon Shedden stormed through the field to take an amazing fourth place and with it, the 2015 BTCC title.
Jason Plato had made the perfect start as the race got underway and soon sliced past Matt Neal on the run up to Druids. After that he was never in any danger of not winning the race but the title was out of his hands.
Shedden had started nineteenth and needed to take at least sixth to take the title. He was helped by three safety car periods in the early stages which meant that the field stayed bunched up giving him the chance to fight his way through. His first difficult target came when he met Alain Menu. The Swiss driver was obviously going to do everything he could to keep his team mates rival behind him. Things looked tough for Shedden but he struck lucky when Menu suffered a puncture, allowing Shedden to power through in pursuit of the sixth place he needed.
He was soon into the top ten after flying straight past Tordoff’s WSR BMW which left him behind Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek MG. Not for long though as he flew past both him and Andy Priaulx’s BMW in quick succession to move into eighth place. He was now just two positions away from claiming the championship.
However it was another team mate of Plato next, Aron Smith. He was also keen not to let the Honda past him and the two made contact. Fortunately Shedden stayed on track and just after they crossed the line side by side, Shedden edged ahead. He was now seventh, one more place and he could be champion.
The next target was the WSR BMW of Collard. Shedden by now had a lot of practice at passing and dealt with Collard in the same way that he had dealt with his team mates earlier. Sixth place was now his and if he could finish in this position he’d be champion. The safe move now would have been to hold position but Shedden amazingly then went for further positions. He got involved in a robust fight with Jack Goff and Adam Morgan. He eventually passed Morgan but Goff proved to be a tougher opponent. When Goff than passed Shedden’s team mate Matt Neal, Neal opted to let Shedden past into fourth where he finished taking the championship.
Ahead Plato had taken the victory ahead of Mat Jackson, who had also mounted a charge up the field from his seventh place starting spot and second place was a great end to an almost perfect day for Jackson. He’s won more races in his half season than some of the championship contenders managed all year!
Jack Goff took a fighting third to end his year on a high, he had left Brands Hatch at the start of the season as championship leader but things did not always go his way and he’d dropped out of contention before the finale.
With Shedden and Neal fourth and fifth, next up was Adam Morgan in sixth, This had looked set to be another podium for the Wix Racing driver before his battle with Goff, Shedden and Neal dropped him down the order.
Collard was seventh ahead of Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Racing MG. Aron Smith took ninth in his BMR VW, his future with the team in doubt if Jason Plato remains there. Andy Priaulx’s solid but unspectacular weekend continued in the same way with tenth, his wish to win a race on the final weekend never looked like coming true.
Eleventh was Tordoff with an off at Surtees dropping him out of the top ten. Turkington took twelfth, but his results from the season make him the 2015 Independent champion. BMR also take the teams championship and the independent teams championship.
Aiden Moffat took thirteenth with Mike Bushell finishing his tough season with more points from fourteenth. The final point went to Josh Cook who also won the Jack Sears Trophy (The championship for Rookie drivers)
So Gordon Shedden is the 2015 champion with his Yuasa Honda Racing team taking the manufacturers/constructors title as well.
As has become tradition the championship prizes were awarded on the championships podium, repositioned to the front straight so the maximum number of people possible could see the 2015 champions getting their trophies.
Full results from the entire BTCC Finale weekend can be found at TSL Timing By Marc Waller
