Gordon Shedden pips Andy Priaulx in Brands thriller

Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden pipped West Surrey Racing’s Andy Priaulx in a thrilling drag race to the line in the second Brands Hatch race, after dominant leader Jason Plato retired in the gravel at Paddock Hill.

The 2012 champion took a first win for the new Type-R after a forceful battle with Priaulx, who twice attemped to pass but was rebuffed by Shedden, with the pair separated by a mere 0.040 at the line.

But the battle would have been for second were it not for Team BMR’s Plato sliding into the gravel with a puncture on lap 21 while leading by more than three seconds.

The race came alive in the final stages, after Priaulx made contact with Shedden at Clearways on lap 20 to make the pass stick. Shedden immediately fought back and repassed into Druids on the next lap, just as Plato came into shot in the gravel.

The two were held up behind the Infiniti Q50 of Derek Palmer Jr as they attempted to lap him on the final tour, with Priaulx making one final dive up the inside into Clearways. But in the run to the line, Shedden had just enough left to hang on.

Behind the duelling pair was reigning champion Colin Turkington, taking his first podium for Team BMR, with Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan taking a superb fourth ahead of Triple Eight Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was a strong sixth ahead of West Surrey Racing’s Sam Tordoff, with Matt Neal eighth after a trip through the Paddock Hill gravel. Jack Goff and Rob Austin completed the top 10, and Austin then drew himself on pole position for the reverse grid finale.

Aside from the lead battle, the story of the race was tyres. Race one winner Rob Collard plummeted all the way down to 17th on the soft tyre, with the other five drivers on the same compound just behind him.

Collard had leapt to second at the start while Plato led, but was gradually picked off by all the drivers behind him. The highlight was undoubtedly Shedden’s pass, with the Scot selling the BMW driver a classic dummy into Paddock Hill before diving back past on the inside.

Elsewhere, Team BMR’s Warren Scott and Eurotech Racing’s Martin Depper were eliminated on lap two when the Volkswagen slewed out of control exiting Paddock Hill and the Honda was unable to avoid it.

Depper’s team-mate Jeff Smith was then compromised by an incident with AmD Tuning’s Mike Bushell and finished two laps down in 23rd.

And adding to the early drama were Goff and Aron Smith, with the Volkswagen CC turned around by Goff’s MG 6 at Graham Hill on lap four. Smith dropped down the order and could only fight back to 12th.