Gordon Shedden celebrates podium in debut weekend at Dubai

Gordon Shedden finished second in his first race in the TCR International Series in Dubai, losing out to Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola at the start, but holding on for second despite a late charge from Hyundai’s Gabriele Tarquini.

The British driver started from pole, and confirmed there was a plan to allow team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay past into the lead, but a self-confessed bad start for Vernay saw him slip behind the SEAT of Oriola, who then had a run on Shedden to take the lead into Turn 1 and went onto claim victory.

Shedden faced a late challenge from Gabriele Tarquini’s Hyundai i30, but the problem went away when Tarquini developed a puncture with two laps to go.

“The first corner was quite hectic,” said Shedden to TouringCarTimes. “The plan was to let him through, but there was so much going on and we could have perhaps tripped ourselves up if I had slowed down enough to let him go,” he added.

“It’s also important for Volkswagen, as they didn’t want me to drop too far back, and there’s just a lot of things to try and manage in that race.

Shedden’s point highlights the last remaining title battle, with Volkswagen now just six points behind Honda in the model of the year battle.

In Race 2, Shedden will start tenth on the grid courtesy of the reversed top ten from qualifying, and hopes

“Hopefully we can have some fun and have a good fight in the last race. That said, these guys have been racing all year and I’m not here to ruin their season with damage from any battles.”