Gordon Shedden has taken victory in the first race at Knockhill, beating second-placed finisher Alex MacDowall off the line and holding on for his fourth win of the season. Steven Kane had a strong latter half of the race to finish in third after passing Matt Neal on the penultimate lap.
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From second on the grid, Shedden got his car off the line better than MacDowall and was completely in front going into the first corner at Duffus Dip. However as he turned in MacDowall caught the rear of Shedden’s Honda and he was forced to save a huge slide through the turn. An expert display of car control meant that Shedden didn’t lose the lead and despite two later safety car periods, he was able to hold on for the win.
MacDowall’s second position marks his best-ever BTCC race finish and moves him closer to the top ten in the points standings. He also received a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, such was the young Chevrolet driver’s pace around the circuit.
Steven Kane’s third place finish was his strongest of the year in the opening race of a weekend and stems from his best-ever qualifying performance. Despite a slow start the Northern Irishman was clearly one of the fastest drivers towards the end of the race. Matt Neal had to settle for fourth and withstand huge pressure from Tom Chilton and Jason Plato behind him in the last few laps.
Chilton finished in fifth but was in the middle of battles throughout the race, as was sixth placed Plato. Having started from fourth, Plato lost out to both Chilton and Kane early in the race and struggled to make up positions afterwards, clearly affected by carrying maximum success ballast.
Tom Onslow-Cole also had an eventful race to seventh, minimising the points lost in the championship to Plato. Towards the end of the race Onslow-Cole was involved in a couple of tightly-contested battles, almost losing out to Mat Jackson and Paul O’Neill. He would cross the line ahead of O’Neill by a mere 0.052 seconds after out-dragging him along the final straight.
Andrew Jordan finished in ninth, despite earlier contact with Rob Collard that saw the WSR driver eliminated from the race in the gravel. Jackson was able to salvage a tenth place finish after a dramatic final stint in the race where he was one of the fastest drivers but also one involved in plenty of contact.
Of the four non-finishers, two were spun out of the race. Collard completed 18 laps before ending up in the gravel, whilst James Nash went out after just 12 laps. Nash had been defending his position from Jackson into Duffus Dip when the Airwaves BMW driver spun him out with slight contact at the rear of Nash’s Vectra.
After the race, a disappointed Collard said: “I was battling with Onslow-Cole and went to go down the inside of him when he turned in and I had to slow to avoid him. Andy Jordan tagged the rear end of the car and turned me round, and I ended up in the gravel. I was having a reasonable race until then so disappointed with the result.”
Tom Boardman retired with an enging failure, possibly due to overheating caused by an advertising banner blocking his radiator. John George effectively was out on the opening lap after contact with Andy Neate at Duffus Dip.