Gordon Shedden concludes Croft weekend with lights-to-flag win

Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden controlled the final British Touring Car Championship race at Croft with a lights-to-flag win, comfortably clear of BTC Racing’s Josh Cook.

After finishing race two in 12^th following a 16-place recovery drive from the back of the grid, due to a race one suspension breakage, Shedden’s race day luck changed in an instant when he was randomly drawn to start race three from pole position.

At the start, the Scot romped into a quick lead, such that by the end of the opening lap he held a 1.5—second advantage over Cook.

Erstwhile points leader Cook – running the standard M-Sport TOCA engine compared to Shedden’s Neil Brown Engineering unit – seemed to lack the pace to take the fight to the Scot, instead finding himself with his mirrors full of Rory Butcher’s Toyota.

Butcher had himself jumped three places on the opening lap, but after making those initial gains the race settled down and he couldn’t find a way to get onto the podium.

Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley was fourth, having not got the type of strong start the rear-wheel drive machines have become accustomed to.

MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill concluded a day of top five finishes just behind his West Surrey Racing stable-mate, with Colin Turkington taking sixth.

Turkington only completed one on-track overtake, but was the biggest beneficiary of several incidents ahead to gain four places on his starting position.

The first came when NAPA Racing’s Ash Sutton attempted to pass Excelr8’s Tom Chilton for what was then sixth on the third lap of the race.

Sutton got a run on the Hyundai exiting the hairpin, but approaching the first corner the two made contact, breaking the left-rear suspension on the Ford and forcing Sutton into his first retirement of the season.

Later in the race, Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat was shown the mechanical warning flag because his bonnet had lifted when he was running in fifth, forcing him to pit and dropping him out of contention.

Turkington did pass Team Dynamics’ Daniel Rowbottom for sixth on lap six, although Rowbottom later dropped out when he picked up a puncture on the penultimate lap.

Tom Ingram ended the race as the top Excelr8 driver in seventh, only gaining places through the demise of others ahead, whilst Dan Cammish was NAPA Racing’s sole finisher in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Excelr8’s Tom Chilton and Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan.

The day’s earlier double winner Daniel Lloyd was just 11^th, struggling to make progress like his rivals.

Ingram takes over as the championship leader leaving North Yorkshire, the Excelr8 driver holding 195 points ahead of Cook (192), Turkington (183), Sutton (171) and Hill (154).

The BTCC resumes at Knockhill in five weeks’ times.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	15	20:52.233	1:22.165	1
2	66	I		Josh COOK	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	2.528	1:22.462	2
3	6	M		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	3.251	1:22.439	6
4	12	M		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	3.837	1:22.257	3
5	24	M		Jake HILL	ROKiT MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	4.093	1:22.716	9
6	50	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	4.404	1:22.363	10
7	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	10.404	1:22.661	11
8	9	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	12.965	1:22.880	13
9	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	13.472	1:22.980	4
10	33	I		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	13.942	1:23.018	15
11	123	M		Daniel LLOYD	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	14.294	1:23.069	12
12	19	I		Bobby THOMPSON	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	15	15.129	1:23.201	14
13	97	I		Ash HAND	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	16.181	1:23.196	17
14	11	I		Jason PLATO	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	20.008	1:23.358	16
15	48	M		Ollie JACKSON	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	24.315	1:23.592	20
16	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	24.446	1:23.050	18
17	18	M		James GORNALL	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	25.442	1:23.514	28
18	21	M		Ricky COLLARD	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	25.879	1:23.094	25
19	42	I		George GAMBLE	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	26.361	1:23.162	26
20	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	27.128	1:23.600	19
21	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	15	32.553	1:23.901	22
22	20	I		Will POWELL	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	14	1 Lap	1:23.844	24
R	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	14	DNF	1:22.938	8
R	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	13	DNF	1:23.854	21
NC	99	I		Jade EDWARDS	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	12	NCF	1:23.407	23
NC	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	11	NCF	1:22.917	7
R	777	I		Michael CREES	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	10	DNF	1:23.070	27
R	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	7	DNF	1:23.193	5
NS	41	I		Carl BOARDLEY	Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing	Infiniti Q50	–	DNS	N/A	–