Gordon Shedden, Speedworks Corolla Racing
Photo by: JEP
Gordon Shedden soaked up everything Ash Sutton could throw at him to notch up a surprise victory in the British Touring Car Championship’s final race at Snetterton.
Three-time champion Shedden started his Speedworks Motorsport-run Laser Tools Toyota Corolla GR Sport from reversed-grid pole position, with Sutton facing the race from seventh on the grid in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium.
Sutton picked his way through to make it up to third place by the fifth lap of 12, and closed up on the leading duo of Shedden and Adam Morgan (Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon).
Two laps later, Sutton got past Morgan and then appeared to have made a decisive move to take the lead from Shedden on the inside of the hairpin. But the hard-charging Scottish veteran fought back, and dived down the inside at Turn 3 to retake the advantage.
A lap later, Sutton went around the outside of the Toyota at the fast Riches right-hander, but Shedden clung on to the inside line for the following hairpin.
By now, Sutton had used his solitary lap of TOCA Turbo Boost, and Shedden had some in reserve. By the 10th lap, Tom Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback was up to third from his back-of-the-grid start following alternator failure in race two, by sweeping around the outside of Morgan into the esses.
Tom Ingram, Team VERTU
Photo by: JEP
Ingram then sliced into the gap to the leading duo, and made a bid around the outside of Sutton at Riches at the start of the final lap, but Sutton claimed the line for the hairpin. There was also a nudge at the esses, but Sutton held on to secure the runner-up position, with Shedden taking victory by 0.728 seconds.
Ingram’s difficult weekend continued after the race had finished, when he was given a 10-second penalty for track-limits offences, relegating him to eighth in the final results.
Morgan lost positions in the final laps, with the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon coming through to take third place after Ingram’s penalty. Chris Smiley had a good run in his Restart Racing Hyundai for fourth, ahead of Charles Rainford’s WSR BMW.
Morgan was classified sixth ahead of Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai), who had been in the mix earlier on. Dan Cammish (Alliance Ford) and Dan Rowbottom (Plato Mercedes) completed the top 10, the highest-placed runners to have contested the race on medium compound tyres.
While Shedden enjoyed his victory, many of the plaudits went the way of Nic Hamilton. The Excelr8 Hyundai-driving brother of seven-time world champion Lewis accumulated the most points across the day in the Jack Sears Trophy to stand on a BTCC podium for the first time.
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- The Autosport.com Team
Source: Autosport