Shedden wins again at Thruxtonposted in BTCC04 | 05 | 2014
FIFER GORDON SHEDDEN claimed his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the season in the latest triple-header at Thruxton.
The 35-year-old from Dalgety Bay, third in the today's opening race behind the Hondas of defending champ Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal, delivered a blistering performance in race two.
Starting from second on the grid, he dropped to fifth after sliding wide at the opening series of corners.
But the 2012 champ, driving his new Honda Civic Tourer, fought back through the field to eventually finish 0.319secs ahead of Jordan.
"It's fantastic to get another win," Shedden, who won a fortnight ago at Donington, beamed afterwards. "Every time I get into the new Civic we improve it, and it's getting faster and faster.
"But it could all have gone horribly wrong at the start of the race. I made a little miscalculation, and how I didn't get hit by one of the other cars I'll never know."
Related: Shedden's last-lap stunner
Starting 10th in the day's final reverse grid race, and carrying a maximum 45kgs of success ballast, the Scot battled through to finish fifth behind the BMW of race winner, former Knockhill race instructor Colin Turkington.
"The first two races were fantastic: the third was just chaotic," Shedden continued. "Very, very difficult, but nice to get home with the car in one piece and some more points on the board."
While Shedden heads to the next triple-header at Oulton Park in four weeks trailing championship leader Jordan by just seven points, it was a miserable weekend for Jason Plato.
The double champ, piloting his MG, arrived at Thruxton tied with Jordan for the lead of the championship.
But after struggling to finish sixth and seventh in the day's opening two races, he was forced to retire his car on the opening lap of the final race with suspension damage.
The Oxford driver has dropped to fifth in the title race, 35 points behind Jordan, and four behind Shedden's Honda team-mate Matt Neal, who in turn lies 13 adrift of third-placed Turkington.
Related: Paul di Resta 14th on DTM comeback
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Jim McGill