Gordon Shedden holds on for wet race three win at Oulton Park

Gordon Shedden claimed his and Toyota’s first British Touring Car Championship victory of the season in a wet race three at Oulton Park, as NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton extended his points lead in second.

Ahead of the race a heavy rain shower at the Cheshire circuit meant the race started on a wet circuit, but the rain stopped falling as the race got underway, creating ever-improving conditions.

Shedden had been randomly drawn by retiring ITV anchor Steve Rider to start the race from pole position, after the top nine in the race two result were inverted. The Scot had a good launch at the start, as behind him Team Vertu’s Senna Proctor was slow away from the line.

That allowed One Motorsport’s Josh Cook to dive into second, with Proctor off-line on the outside through Old Hall corner and dropping to sixth, also ceding position to Jake Hill, Daniel Rowbottom and Tom Ingram.

Cook then outbraked himself at Hislops chicane and had to drop in behind Laser Tools Racing’s Hill in third, whilst behind them Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley retired with a mechanical issue.

Cook tried to regain second from Hill at Old Hall Corner on the next lap, but the reigning champion held firm, and further around the lap Cook went off again at Lodge corner, being lucky to escape the gravel.

It soon became apparent that the Honda driver had an issue with his car, crawling slowly back to the pits and out of the race.

Sutton, meanwhile, passed title rival Tom Ingram for sixth on the third lap and was then quickly past team-mate Dan Cammish on the next lap when Cammish was held up in a battle with Proctor and Sutton managed to dive past both, completing the pass on Proctor for fourth into the hairpin.

Ingram, meanwhile, was going in the opposite direction. After a trip down the escape road at Hislops on lap nine the Team Vertu driver was down to ninth, before slipping to 12^th when the safety car was called on lap six after Max Hall went off into the gravel at Lodge corner and got his CUPRA beached.

Three laps behind the safety car followed, with action resuming on lap ten. NAPA racing’s Daniel Rowbottom looked to pass Hill for second, but as they battled Sutton carried more momentum through a switchback at the first corner and passed both to move into second by Cascades, although Hill immediately took second back with a slight touch.

Racing was curtailed again by the end of the lap after Tom Chilton hit the back of Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble at the Hislops chicane, sending the Vauxhall towards the barriers whilst Chilton limped back to the pits with front end damage and a bonnet over his windscreen.

A further two laps behind the safety car followed, with the action resuming on lap 14 and Nicolas Hamilton immediately fell off the circuit at Old Hall corner, although on this occasion racing was able to continue.

By now, track conditions had improved such that the wet tyres were struggling, backed up by the fact that Un-Limited Motorsport’s Dexter Patterson had pitted for the soft slick rubber on lap 12 when running in 15^th. The CUPRA driver was comfortably posting fastest laps of anyone but had to catch the pack after falling back under the safety car.

Shedden held on to claim the 53^rd win of his BTCC career, despite pressure from Hill and latterly Sutton, when Hill went wide from second on the penultimate lap.

Sutton took second, with Rowbottom completing the podium thanks to Hill’s off-track excursion.

Ingram was fourth and limited the loss of points to Sutton, with the deficit standing at ten points leaving Oulton Park – just one point greater than it was coming into the weekend.

Proctor was fifth, ahead of Cammish in sixth, the duo losing out to Ingram three laps from the finish.

Hill held on to take seventh, ahead of Toyota’s James Dorlin in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by WSR’s Charles Rainford, from the back of the grid, and NAPA’s Sam Osborne.

Patterson was 12^th after gaining a further two places on the slick tyre on the final lap, and in a race of attrition amongst the Independent drivers he looked to have won the class for the first time this year. However, he was thrown out of the result after the race for failing the ride height check, giving the Independents win to the sole finisher, Daniel Lloyd in 13th.

Nick Halstead and Árón Taylor-Smith failed to start the race, the latter suffering engine-related dramas after his race two retirement.

Revised race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	30:14.584	1:33.223	1
2	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	0.741	1:33.334	9
3	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	1.472	1:33.440	4
4	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	1.592	1:33.056	6
5	18	M		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	5.386	1:33.985	2
6	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	5.804	1:33.755	10
7	1	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	18	6.391	1:33.636	5
8	132	M		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	9.685	1:34.273	13
9	99	M		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	10.696	1:34.363	25
10	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	11.525	1:34.288	12
11	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	13.496	1:34.963	16
12	26	M		Finn LESLIE	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	14.637	1:35.385	17
13	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	15.093	1:34.284	24
14	2	M		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	17	+ 1 LAP	1:33.400	15
15	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	+ 2 LAPS	1:34.469	8
R	12	I		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	13	DNF	1:35.185	23
R	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	13	DNF	1:36.140	20
R	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	10	DNF	1:34.535	7
R	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	9	DNF	1:33.832	11
R	93	I		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	5	DNF	1:35.008	18
R	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	5	DNF	1:41.365	3
R	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	0	DNF	N/A	14
EX	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	13.592	1:29.755	19
NS	50	I		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	DNS	N/A	22
NS	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	–	DNS	N/A	21