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British Touring Car Championship
Donington Park - Race 3 Report - 20/4/14

By MJP Media | 20 April 2014

Gordon Shedden makes a last corner move to snatch victory from Colin Turkington and give Honda Yuasa Racing a double podium in the last race from Donington Park.

Gordon Shedden puts a last corner move on Colin Turkington

In a contest that had everything, the third and final Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race from Donington Park got off to a typical start with the safety car deployed on the first lap as Marc Hynes parked his Quantel Bifold Racing MG6 heavily into the barriers. Also suffering on lap one were Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic who slipped from 3rd to 12th, Gordon Shedden who went from 4th to 6th and Aiden Moffat who was hit and spun out of 16th place and down towards the back of the field.

When the safety car pulled in at the end of lap 2, it appeared that there was no stopping the flying eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport of Colin Turkington as he headed into the distance, benefitting from a lack of ballast and the legendary rear wheel drive BMW grip. Behind him, Matt Neal in the Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourer was 2nd with Jason Plato 3rd in the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6. Mat Jackson was running 4th with Sam Tordoff 5th and Gordon Shedden 6th. Lap four saw Dave Newsham, who had been running in 7th, go off in a self-inflicted accident, re-joining at the back of the field.

Jason Plato defending from Matt Neal

Lap 5 saw Aron Smith in the Chrome Edition Restart Racing Volkswagen CC getting up to 8th place whilst Gordon Shedden was mounting a charge from 6th. On lap 6 Shedden moved up to 5th and then 4th place behind team-mate Matt Neal on lap 7. His move up the field continued when he took 3rd place from Neal on lap 10. There seemed a lot for Shedden to do as Turkington had established a 4.5 second lead over Jason Plato with Shedden 1.5 seconds further back.

As the race moved into its final phase, Gordon Shedden was able to pass Jason Plato on lap 12 as Plato's MG6 started to slow, losing further places to end in 6th place. With Plato slowing, Matt Neal was able to take over in 3rd on lap 14 as the Hondas set about trying to catch Colin Turkington in the last 4 laps. With Turkington's lead reducing, the crowd were on the edge of their seats as the race entered its final lap.

Colin Turkington and Gordon Shedden in the gravel

The last lap saw controversy and it all came down to the final corner. As Colin Turkington came down the Dunlop Straight, Gordon Shedden tried an audacious overtaking move down the outside and the two cars arrived at the final chicane side by side. This was always going to be difficult, especially with the new regulation requiring all cars to keep four wheels on the circuit. Turkington held the race line giving Shedden nowhere to go except across the gravel trap with all four wheels off the circuit. This, however, gave Shedden the advantage and he crossed the line first to take the chequered flag with Turkington second and the other Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourer of Matt Neal 3rd. There were bound to be views on the legality of this move by both teams, but Shedden took the podium whilst the stewards looked at the evidence after the event.

Andrew Jordan and Jason Plato are now at the top of the championship standings, both with 87 points although Jordan takes the top spot having had more race wins. Third is Gordon Shedden only one point behind with Turkington two points further back on 84. If the result stands, this gives an intriguing championship table as we head to Thruxton in Hampshire on the 3rd and 4th of May.

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