Gordon Shedden extends lead with race three victory
Gordon Shedden extended his lead in the BTCC points standings with victory in the final race of the weekend at Oulton Park as Honda headed away from Cheshire with a 1-2 finish.
Having taken the points lead after race two, Shedden moved further clear at the head of the standings with a second win of the campaign – moving him 16 points clear of Rob Collard in the title race.
Shedden had started the race from third on the grid, with Andrew Jordan taking the early lead after jumping ahead of pole man Josh Cook when the lights went out.
Jordan – winner of race one earlier in the day – made his bid for freedom as Cook battled hard to keep the field behind at bay, with Shedden trying on more than occasion to get ahead at Island during the opening laps.
The Scot would finally make a move stick when he dived down the inside into Old Hall on lap four, with contact with the Maximum Motorsport-run Focus putting Cook into retirement with damaged suspension.
Jordan was still clear out front but saw his lead eradicated when the Safety Car was deployed after Aiden Moffat turned across the front of Dave Newsham exiting the hairpin and ended up making heavy contact with the tyres.
Once the Laser Tools Mercedes was removed from the scene and the tyre barrier repaired, the race restarted but it didn’t take long for Jordan to lose his lead; Shedden sliding down the inside through Cascades with a fine move on lap 15 and forcing Jordan wide enough for team-mate Neal to then follow through.
Shedden would stay out front to the finish ahead of Neal, with Jordan slipping back from the pair but still securing a second podium finish of the weekend.
Outside the top three, Ash Sutton secured an impressive fourth place in his ballast laden Subaru Levorg having produced one of the drives of the day to somehow keep Colin Turkington behind.
Turkington had charged through from 13th on the grid but was unable to get ahead of a defensive Sutton as the race two winner continually put his car in the ideal position to prevent the BMW behind from finding a way through.
Turkington was therefore left to settle for fifth spot behind Sutton at the line, with Rob Collard, Rob Austin and Michael Epps rounding out the top eight.
Jake Hill took ninth, with Luke Davenport breaking into the top ten for Motorbase.
Despite setting the best lap time, previous points leader Tom Ingram again failed to score, as did Mat Jackson who retired on lap one with a mechanical issue.
Aron Taylor-Smith meanwhile looked set to bring MG a top ten finish until his car suddenly slowed on the final lap, dropping him down outside the top 20.
