Gordon Shedden wins third BTCC title as Mat Jackson wins the last race

Team Dynamics Honda driver won his third BTCC drivers’ title after finishing on the podium in the final race ahead of title rival Sam Tordoff at Brands Hatch, while Mat Jackson won his fifth race of the season to leap up to third in the standings.

Jackson started from pole position in the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus courtesy of a top ten reversed grid draw ahead of the Mercedes A-Class of Aiden Moffat, and the two held station into Paddock Hill bend with championship leader Sam Tordoff third in the West Surrey Racing BMW.

Gordon Shedden lost a spot to Jason Plato’s Subaru at the start, but the Scotsman was able to get ahead at Druids and was up to fifth place, with the Honda driver having to finish ahead of Tordoff in order to win the title.

Shedden passed Josh Cook’s Triple Eight MG on lap four at Druids and was now chasing down his title rival as the safety car was called after Team BMR’s Warren Scott was knocked into the gravel at Druids in an incident with the Proton of Dan Welch and the Ford of Alex Martin.

When the race restarted, Shedden hounded Tordoff’s BMW over the first green flag lap, making his move at Clearways down the inside and drafting past the BMW driver on the straight, now level on points which would be enough for the title on countback of victories.

Shedden then closed down on the leading pair of Jackson and Moffat, while Tordoff would fall back one further position on lap 13 to the Ciceley Racing Mercedes of Adam Morgan.

On lap 15, the safety car was out again as Dan Welch buried his Proton at Sheene, with the race restarted with just one lap to go, with Shedden under threat from the soft tyre-shod Morgan, but the Honda driver held on to the podium spot, which means he wins his third drivers’ title after 2012 and 2015 by just two points ahead of Tordoff.

Jackson’s win moves him up to third in the standings, while Team BMR’s Colin Turkington struggled on the harder tyres and with 75kg of ballast and fell from seventh to 12th, dropping back in the championship to fourth.

Rob Collard finished the race in ninth and moves ahead of the absent Matt Neal in the championship to fifth, with Neal who forced to withdraw from the race after concussion from an incident in Race 2.

Shedden’s third title is the sixth drivers’ title for Team Dynamics in the British Touring Car Championship, while West Surrey Racing wrapped up the manufacturers’ and teams’ championships however, while Motorbase’s Andrew Jordan wins the independents’ championship for a third time ahead of team-mate Jackson.