Shedden win boosts title hopesposted in BTCC06 | 09 | 2015
FIFER GORDON SHEDDEN heads to the penultimate round of the the British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone in three weeks leading the title race.
The 36-year-old from Dalgety Bay, who entered the latest triple-header at Rockingham trailing Jason Plato by 11 points, left the Northamptonshire circuit leading by six.
Shedden followed up his second place in today's opening race — won by Mat Jackson's Ford —by dominating the second race, leading all the way having started from pole position.
And the Scot, who started the day's finale from 10th in his Honda, battled through to finish eighth.
"Overall I've got to be happy with the weekend," Shedden, who saw Plato power his Volkswagen to his 93rd BTCC victory in the day's final race, said.
"Finishing second in the opening race from seventh on the grid was key to the day, and that certainly helped set up the pole position and the win in the second race.
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"I always said the important thing is to be in the mix for the championship when we get to the finale at Brands Hatch, so to be leading going to the penultimate round at Silverstone is brilliant.
"It could come down to just one or two points at the end of the season so I’ll take every one I can get at this stage. I’m sure it’s going to be tough for us at Silverstone but we’ve got to keep grinding out the results and getting the points – we’ve got to stay in the hunt as our car will be very quick at Brands Hatch.”
Plato, meanwhile, was delighted with his successful end to the day.
“It was a brilliant race to end the day – I loved every minute of the battle with Tom (Ingram)," the double BTCC champ said. "That will go down as one of the best battles of the season – it was good, clean and really exciting.
"I know how talented Tom is, having mentored him in the KX Akademy over the last few years, and it’s great to see him get a result like this.
"After the bad luck we’ve had today we needed to get a result, and now we’re back in the game. It’s been a really important weekend for us and we’ve shown our true spirit: six points to the championship lead is nothing. This one is for Justin Wilson.”
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Jim McGill