Silverstone BTCC: Shedden closes on points lead with Race 3 win

Shedden started from pole position in the Halfords-backed Civic Type R, and was the only one of the front-runners racing on the Dunlop soft tyres in the final race, but lost out into the first corner to Rob Collard’s rear-wheel drive BMW 125i.

Shedden briefly dropped behind the Ford Focus of Mat Jackson to third, but was able to retake the spot before the end of the lap and then overtook Collard around the outside at Becketts to move back into the lead at the start of lap two.

Jackson and Collard then swapped positions, with Jackson ending up ahead of the BMW driver, who were closely being followed by the Subaru of Jason Plato.

Further down the order, championship contenders Tordoff and Matt Neal were working their way forward, with Tordoff making his last pass on Andrew Jordan’s Ford for seventh on lap 11, with Matt Neal making his move past the 2013 champion on lap 14.

Race 1 winner Tom Ingram dropped out with a technical problem late in the race, while a puncture after contact with the MG of Ash Sutton also saw the Handy Toyota of Rob Austin miss out on points for the second race in a row.

Adam Morgan was the first driver to lose a points finish courtesy of a drive-through penalty during the day, when the Ciceley Mercedes driver was found guilty of exceeding track limits on one too many occasions.

Neal made a move on Tordoff to grab sixth with three laps to go, which became fifth when Plato suffered a puncture on the final lap, dropping the Subaru driver from fourth to 12th, all but wiping out his championship challenge.

Shedden went on to win by just under a second ahead of Jackson, with Collard completing the podium ahead of Colin Turkington’s Subaru and Neal’s Honda.

Tordoff finished sixth and maintains the lead of the drivers’ standings on 278 points, with Shedden now 11 points behind and Neal 13 points adrift, with the top eight drivers all way the way down to Plato in mathematical contention for the 2016 drivers’ championship title.

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes