Gordon Shedden has won a manic first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park that was decided by tyre choice on a damp but drying track.

Shedden, on a mix of slicks at the front and treaded wet weather tyres at the rear, lost his pole position advantage at the start to Honda team-mate Matt Neal (wets all round).

But he was quickly back ahead as his slicks started to give him superior grip and from there ran out an easy winner from Jason Plato who was followed in third by Silverline Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall (both were on wets all-round).

Shedden said: "I just didn't think from the warm-up lap I could make a full set of wets last the distance given the conditions so gambled on slicks at the front and it worked. Six laps from the end I knew it had been the right way to go because the wets on the rear were shot."

Plato added: "It was touch and go on what tyres we went with and when the car came down on the jacks I was thinking we might live to regret going wets all round. But fair play to Gordon... he made the right call and drove a great race."

MacDowall commented: "I made a great start and was up from seventh to fifth early on but by the time I got a clear track to Jason he was too far ahead so I just wound it back and nursed the tyres which was the wise thing to do."

James Nash, gambling the same as Shedden, took fourth in his 888 Racing with Collins Contractors Vauxhall Vectra. From 14th and 19th on the grid WSR BMW team-mates Robert Collard and Nick Foster took an amazing fifth and sixth while from even further back, in 21st, series returnee Lea Wood was seventh in his tiny Central Group Racing team’s Honda Integra, the oldest car on the grid. Indeed, this was the first ever points finishes for Wood and he was in tears afterwards.

Championship leader Neal, his turbo-powered car struggling on wets all-round, slipped to an eventual eighth ahead of Andy Neate’s Team Aon Ford Focus that had pushed him throughout. Andrew Jordan recovered from a light opening lap spin into the barriers to cross the line in tenth in his damaged Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra.

Notably, Nash has now moved into second in the standings behind Neal. Shedden is up to third and down to fourth, having been second, is Mat Jackson who, after several stutters, was forced to retire his smoking Airwaves Ford Focus with an engine-related glitch. Plato is fifth and Jordan sixth with just 25 points now covering the leading sextet.

There was utter heartache for Tom Boardman – on slicks all-round and closing on the battle for sixth at some five seconds per lap in the late stages, he looked certain to at least pass Neal on the final lap. However, as he negotiated the hairpin his Special Tuning SEAT Leon was side-swiped by Jeff Smith’s Pirtek Vectra that had been put into a spin behind following contact with Neate’s Focus. The heavy collision resulted in instant retirement for both Boardman and Smith whose cars were badly damaged in the impact.

Paul O’Neill was also out of luck at his home track as any chance of a points finish was lost when he served an early pit lane drive-through penalty for starting his GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed Chevrolet out of position. He took 13th behind Tom Onslow-Cole who was 11th after starting 20th in his AmD Milltek Racing.com VW Golf and Dave Newsham, 12th on his debut for STR and setting the race’s fastest lap as his slick tyres gave him extra grip in the late stages.

888’s Tony Gilham was 14th after losing close to a minute with an off into the tyre barriers at the Old Hall bend and Airwaves’ Liam Griffin 15th following a similar moment at Lodge Corner. Tony Hughes was 16th in a battered Speedworks Toyota following contact with Chris James’s ES Racing Chevrolet that later stopped at the side of the track. Neate’s team-mate Tom Chilton was the last classified finisher in 17th, joining the race late as his mechanics fixed a brake-related problem with his Focus after pushing it away from what should have been sixth on the grid.

O’Neill’s team-mate John George and both the NGTC-spec Audi and Toyota of Rob Austin and Frank Wrathall were also retirements.

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