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Gordon Shedden's BTCC Championship Year: Part 2

By MJP Media | 1 November 2012

In this special feature, we look back at the second half of the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship which was won by Scotland's Gordon Shedden and look at the highs and lows of his title-winning season.

Shedden meeting his fans

Snetterton

Honda Yuasa Racing Team had scored a race win at every circuit in the first half of the season however victories would be harder to come by in the second half of the season. In the first free practice session the Hondas went well with Andrew Jordan topping the time sheet and Shedden 2nd fastest. Shedden had a dramatic moment when his Honda Civic caught fire on its way back to the garage caused by a faulty fuel coupling. In the second session it was Plato who posted the fastest time with Neal 5th. Qualifying honours went to Frank Wrathall who secured pole position in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis ahead of Plato. Neal qualified 7 whilst Shedden was unable to set a time in his hastily repaired Honda Civic.

Race wins eluded the Honda Yuasa Racing Team drivers as Plato won race one with Neal 4th and Shedden 7th. Shedden finished race two in 2nd place behind race winner Andrew Jordan and ahead of Plato in 3rd. Dave Newsham won the third race for Team ES Racing.com ahead of Tom Onslow-Cole and Plato. Neal finished 8th whilst Shedden was excluded from the race results for exceeding turbo boost limits.

Leaving Snetterton, Neal had extended his lead in the Drivers Championship on 255 points with team-mate Shedden on 247 points and Plato on 245.

Knockhill

Race wins continued to elude the Honda Yuasa Racing Team drivers as the BTCC made its annual trip to Scotland despite Shedden setting the fastest time in the first free practice session. Neal could only manage 14th fastest whilst Plato could only manage 6th as the eBay Motors BMWs of Tom Onslow-Cole and Rob Collard posted the 2nd and 3rd fastest times. Collard went fastest in the second free practice session with Shedden 2nd as Neal continued to struggle, ending the session in 10th place. Plato claimed pole position in the qualifying session ahead of Collard whilst Shedden qualified 6th and Neal 8th.

In race one it was the eBay Motors BMWs of Collard and Onslow-Cole who took 1st and 2nd place with local hero Shedden 3rd. Race two produced the same top-three result as race one whilst Neal finished 7th in race one and 8th in race two. Inverness-based Dave Newsham won the third race of the day after being awarded pole position with the reverse grid draw and driving a brilliant race around the Scottish circuit. Neal recovered some championship points by finishing 3rd behind the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic of Jeff Smith whilst Plato failed to make the start of the race due to turbo boost problems. Shedden retired his Honda Civic mid-race after collecting grass in the air intake.

With 3 meetings left on the calendar, Neal headed to Rockingham leading the championship on 287 points with Shedden on 277 and Plato on 251.

Shedden in the rain at Knockhill

Rockingham

Rockingham saw the return to form of the Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civics, however Plato still topped the time sheet in the first free practice session ahead of Shedden and Neal. Plato was still fastest in the second free practice session however Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan just edged Shedden and Neal into 3rd and 4th place. In the qualifying session it was Plato who claimed pole position in his MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 with Shedden 2nd ahead of Jordan in 3rd. Neal qualified 6th.

Plato capitalised on his pole position start and won race one with Jordan 2nd and Shedden 3rd however the Honda Yuasa Racing Team pairing of Shedden and Neal demonstrated their superiority in races two and three with Shedden winning both races ahead of his team-mate. Plato finished both race two and three in 3rd place.

Heading into the penultimate meeting of season, Shedden had regained the lead in the championship with 336 points, 3 points ahead of Neal and 32 points ahead of Plato.

Silverstone

The Silverstone National circuit was expected to be a bogey circuit for the Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civics and it certainly proved to be so. Plato posted the fastest time in the first free practice session whereas Neal and Shedden could only manage 8th and 14th. Things went from bad to worse in the second free practice session when Neal and Shedden managed only 12th and 15th fastest whilst Plato was 2nd fastest behind Daniel Welch on the Proton Persona. Plato went on to qualify in pole position whilst Neal qualified 10th and Shedden qualified a disappointing 19th.

Race day didn't go much better for Neal and Shedden. With Plato winning races one and race three, Shedden managed only 7th in race one and race two and 6th in race 3. Whilst Shedden's points haul was relatively small, it was substantially more than that of team-mate and championship rival Neal who didn't manage to score a single point at the meeting. Neal retired from all three races: the first with turbo boost problems; the second with an engine fire; and the third following contact with another car.

With 67 points available from the final meeting of the season, 4 drivers had a chance of lifting the 2012 Drivers Championship trophy: current championship leader Shedden on 364 points; Plato on 349 points; Neal on 333 points; and Jordan on 303 points.

Shedden celebrates winning the Drivers Championship

Brands Hatch (GP)

At the final meeting of the 2012 season, all eyes were on Shedden to see if he could become the first Scottish champion since John Cleland in 1995. Following the troubles at Silverstone, the Honda Yuasa Racing Team were delighted when Neal and Shedden topped the time sheet in the first free practice session ahead of fellow championship contenders Jordan and Plato. The second free practice session saw Jordan go fastest ahead of Onslow-Cole and Collard. Plato went 4th fastest with Neal and Shedden 7th and 8th. In qualifying, Onslow-Cole took pole position with Jordan 2nd and Neal 3rd whilst Plato qualified 5th and Shedden 7th.

Neal won the first race ahead of Jordan with Shedden 5th and Plato 8th giving Shedden an 18 point lead in the championship over Plato, with Neal just 2 points further behind. Race two was won by Aron Smith in the Redstone Racing Ford Focus however with Shedden coming home in 2nd place ahead of Neal, the Scot from Dalgety Bay had now obtained an unbeatable lead in the championship. Race three was won by Frank Wrathall in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis with Neal 2nd and Shedden 3rd.

At the end of a thrilling season, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was awarded to Gordon Shedden with a total of 408 points. Shedden's Honda Yuasa Racing Team team-mate Matt Neal was runner-up on 387 points with Jason Plato 3rd on 376 points.

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