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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch (GP) - Race 3 Report - 11/10/15

By MJP Media | 11 October 2015

Gordon Shedden is crowned 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Drivers' Champion following a sensational drive in the last race of the season which was won by championship rival Jason Plato.

Gordon Shedden is ecstatic after winning the 2015 Drivers' Championship

Going into the last race of the 2015 BTCC season, Gordon Shedden was leading the championship by 12 points from rival Jason Plato. The Honda Yuasa Racing driver lost points to Plato in the two earlier races and now had a battle on his hands as he was to start from 19th on the grid having struggled in race two with seized brakes following a minor collision. To make matters worse for the Scot, Plato was starting on the front row of the grid alongside Matt Neal who was on pole position thanks to the reverse grid draw.

Behind pole-sitter Matt Neal and Jason Plato, Jack Goff started on row 2 in his MG 888 Racing MG 6GT alongside Dave Newsham's Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze. Row 3 was taken by Adam Morgan's WIX Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class and Tom Ingram's Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis with Mat Jackson and Aron Smith on row 4.

Series Director Alan Gow 'helps' Gordon Shedden celebrate

As the lights went out to start the last race of the season, Matt Neal and Jason Plato both got good starts however Neal ran wide at Paddock Hill, allowing Plato to take the lead. As the first lap progressed, Tom Ingram spun going into Druids, beaching his car in the gravel. Moments later he was hit by Jake Hill's AMD Tuning.com Audi S3 which had also spun going into the corner. A brief period under the Safety Car followed before racing restarted. A couple of laps later the Safety Car was deployed again to allow the recovery of Stewart Lines' Toyota Avensis, by which time Gordon Shedden had climbed up to 16th.

Racing resumed on lap 6 and on the following lap, Matt Neal lost 2 places to drop to 4th allowing Jack Goff up to 2nd and Mat Jackson up to 3rd before a further Safety Car period was required when Dave Newsham found himself in a gravel trap. The order at the front remained unchanged until Neal regained 3rd place from Mat Jackson on lap 12. Meanwhile, Gordon Shedden was making steady progress moving up the order. On lap 14 Mat Jackson made up 2 places to take 2nd place behind race leader Jason Plato as Jack Goff slipped to 4th. Goff recovered one place on lap 17 to take 3rd.

Colin Turkington receiving the Independents' Drivers Championship

At the chequered flag it was a victory for Jason Plato and Team BMR RCIB Insurance with Mat Jackson taking 2nd place and his 3rd podium of the day for Motorbase Performance. Completing the race 3 podium was Jack Goff for MG 888 Racing however the undoubted star of the race was Honda Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden who finished an astounding 4th from 19th on the grid.

At the end of a fantastic day's racing, Gordon Shedden was crowned the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Drivers' Champion with 348 points, just 4 points ahead of runner-up Jason Plato on 344. Colin Turkington won the Independents' Drivers Championship with Josh Cook taking the Jack Sears Trophy for rookies with an impressive 22 class wins. Honda Yuasa Racing took the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship title with Team BMR RCIB Insurance winning the HiQ Teams' Championship and the Independents' Teams Trophy.

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