Gordon Shedden secured his fourth victory of the season during round nine of the 2012 British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, leading home a Honda 1-2 as Matt Neal finished second.
Click here for the full Round 9 Results.
Shedden’s win is his fourth of the season and it sees him move into second overall in the championship, just four points adrift of current leader Jason Plato. Neal took his first podium finish of the day, whilst Frank Wrathall enjoyed his fifth visit to the BTCC podium.
Lining up ninth and with maximum ballast, Shedden survived a fraught opening lap to work his way into the lead by lap four, with Neal following his Honda team-mate through at Noble.
Having lined up on Pole, Tony Gilham in the Team Hard Honda Civic led the way during the opening laps and fought off the Honda Yuasa Racing Team cars before they made their moves. Gilham saw his race end in the barrier on the sixth lap as Wrathall passed for third and, despite recovering, he retired in the pits. This left Plato in fourth chasing down the Dynojet Toyota of Wrathall.
The lead S2000 car of Mat Jackson was struggling against the NGTC cars and he lost out to the NGTC Honda Civic of Andrew Jordan. Jackson wound up sixth after an eventful start where he had contact off the line and had to hold a lurid slide at Allard.
Up at the front, the Honda team-mates were pulling away from the chasing pack and they were able to swap positions on lap 12, giving Neal an extra point for leading the race.
Shedden retook the lead on the following lap and led home Neal for the teams’ second 1-2 finish of the season and for Shedden, it marked his fourth win in six races.
Wrathall held off Plato for his first podium finish of the season and his first Independents’ win while Pirtek Racing saw Jordan finish fifth.
Jackson was the first of the S2000 cars to finish in sixth, with the eBay Motors BMW 320si of Collard seventh, Lea Wood eighth, Jeff Smith ninth and Collard’s team-mate, Tom Onslow-Cole tenth.
Collard and Wood came together under braking for the final chicane on the final lap and both drivers stopped at Allard, Collard with a rear puncture. Despite this neither driver lost any positions as they limped across the finish line.
Leaving Thruxton, Plato has a four point advantage over Shedden, who has climbed up from fifth in the Championship. Neal is third with Jackson the top S2000 driver in fourth overall.