at Knockhill in front of a jubilant home crowd.
Starting from the outside of the front row Shedden had to hound the fast-starting Ford Focus of Mat Jackson during the opening laps before pulling off a surprise move at Clark’s on lap five. It was the sort of brilliant move synonymous with Shedden’s attacking driving style and the 2012 champion never looked back, cruising to the win as thousands upon thousands of fans stood and applauded their hero.
Jackson clung on to second for 25 laps before he was shuffled back by race one winner Rob Collard, showing yet again that the BMW 1-Series can maintain its pace until the finish. Collard’s result was all the more impressive considering he started from fourth on the grid and with maximum success ballast.
Collard’s first challenge on-track had been to get by the impressive Rob Austin in the Exocet AlcoSense Audi. The pair battled hard for a number of laps but when Austin ran wide shortly after mid-distance Collard slipped through, as did both Andrew Jordan’s MG and Andy Priaulx’s BMW.
Those positions would remain unchanged until the finish but West Surrey Racing’s Priaulx had already been involved in one significant incident that had sent reigning champion Colin Turkington tumbling out of the race. The notorious final hairpin saw both cars fighting over the same track space and when inevitable contact followed it left Turkington’s Team BMR RCIB Insurance Racing VW with broken rear suspension.
BTCC legends Jason Plato and Matt Neal finished seventh and eighth, with the Mercedes duo of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan completing the top ten. It was a particularly impressive display from teenager Moffat who is racing following his big accident at Snetterton two weeks ago. There was even more cause for celebration after the race when the #10 was pulled from the reverse grid draw, meaning race three will see an all-Mercedes front row for the first time ever.
There was little doubting the overall hero, however, and that was the man who bounced back from his own Snetterton woes to score a memorable BTCC victory and get his championship challenge back on track.
“That’s absolutely brilliant,” beamed Shedden. “It feels like it has been a long time since I reached the top step of the podium and to do it here in Scotland is great. The little Honda Civic Type R is awesome – I made my plan and got my escape. Now there’s one more to go and we’ll try to score well, but the success ballast will of course make a difference.”
Race 2 Result:
1 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Honda Yuasa Racing2 Robert COLLARD (GBR) JCT600 Racing with GardX3 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance 4 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) MG 888 Racing5 Andy PRIAULX (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club6 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Exocet AlcoSense 7 Jason PLATO (GBR) Team BMR RCIB Insurance 8 Matt NEAL (GBR) Honda Yuasa Racing 9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 10 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing 11 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing 12 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 13 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) Power Maxed Racing 14 Jack GOFF (GBR) MG 888 Racing 15 Josh COOK (GBR) Power Maxed Racing 16 Robb HOLLAND (USA) Handy Motorsport17 James COLE (GBR) Motorbase Performance18 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Welch Motorsport19 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Team BMR RCIB Insurance20 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing 21 Derek P ALMER (GBR) Support Our Paras Racing
NC Sam TORDOFF (GBR) JCT600 Racing with GardX DNF Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing DNF Mike BUSHELL (GBR) AmD Tuning.com DNF Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMR RCIB Insurance DNF Stewart LINES (GBR) Houseman Racing
