Gordon Shedden wins dramatic final race at Donington Park

Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden took a dramatic last corner victory in a thrilling final race of the day at Donington Park, after contact with West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington.

Shedden had hunted down race-long leader Turkington, with the pair side-by-side for the final half a lap. The 2012 champion went around the outside of the BMW 125i into the final corner, and both cars went through the gravel trap before crossing the line.

The move had echoes of Turkington’s pass on Fabrizio Giovanardi at the same stage of the final race in 2006, except this time it was the 2009 champion who came off second best.

Shedden’s win was the first for the new Civic Tourer, and Matt Neal made it an even better day for the team by coming home in third.

Mat Jackson was an excellent fourth for Motorbase Performance, ahead of Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan, Triple Eight’s Jason Plato and the charging BMW pair of Rob Collard and Nick Foster. Alain Menu and Adam Morgan completed the top 10.

In keeping with rest of the day, it was an incident-packed race which again featured a safety car and almost too much incident to keep track of.

Turkington led away from the start, with Jordan sliding wide at Redgate, dropping him back to the tail of the top 10.

Aiden Moffat went off on the infield in his Chevrolet Cruze, while Triple Eight’s Marc Hynes hit the barrier on the inside, causing the safety car to be deployed.

As the field slowed up, Motorbase Performance’s Fabrizio Giovanardi appeared to lock up into the final chicane, and made contact with Team BMR’s Aron Smith. He in turn hit the rear of Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, causing both to lose time.

After the restart, Triple Eight’s Plato divebombed Neal at Redgate, but he didn’t have the pace to stay there. After several close laps, both Neal and Shedden managed to pass the MG, while Plato’s team-mate Sam Tordoff dropped back and out of the points.

Behind the duelling Hondas, Plato and Jackson, Jordan continued to work his way forward, passing Morgan into the final chicane for sixth on lap 11. This became fifth when he passed Plato at the same spot on lap 16.

On lap 12, Ingram appeared to misjudge a pass on Rob Austin’s into Redgate, making heavy contact with the rear of the Audi A4, which retired in the pits.

Shedden passed Plato into the final chicane on lap 13 and set off in pursuit of Turkington, a battle which wasn’t decided until the very end.

In a race where there was barely time for the fans to catch their breath, there was also disappointment for Dave Newsham, who spun out of seventh after the safety car restart.

Only 28 cars took the start, as both Robb Holland and James Cole missed out following their shunt in the second race. Hunter Abbott didn’t make it out of the garage for the start in his Rob Austin Racing Audi A4, joining in after three laps.

Warren Scott’s race ended in the gravel after five laps, while Glynn Geddie retiring on the same tour with a gearbox issue.

The BTCC is back in action in two weeks’ time at Thruxton, over the spring bank holiday weekend.