Defending British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden was satisfied with finishing second in the opening race at Brands Hatch after electrical issues plagued his Honda Civic Type R.
Shedden, who fended off Adam Morgan’s Mercedes A-Class by less than a tenth of a second, was unable to prevent Tom Ingram escaping up the road to take victory.
Spending the opening lap behind pole-sitter Jeff Smith in the Eurotech Type R lost Shedden time he was unable to recover.
It marks the second successive season he has finished runner-up to Ingram in the season opener.
“It’s a good start for us, pretty much exactly mirroring what happened last year,” said Shedden.
“It’s a nice podium to start with and some good points in the bag. Tom (Ingram) got a cracking start and he’d made his escape and gone 100 metres or so up the road by the time I’d passed Jeff (Smith).
“Adam (Morgan) was coming on strong towards the end and we had a few dramas with some warning lights coming on all over the dash so I was trying to deal with them a bit, but it was alright in the end.
“It was a little bit like a Christmas tree with lights all over the dashboard. Something obviously went amiss but the guys will look at the data and try to stop it. It’s a work in progress but we’re moving forward. We’ll come out in race two and try to do a little bit more.”