With Gordon Shedden’s victory in race three of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park on Sunday Honda have made history with the first victory for an estate car in the series.
Shedden started the final race of the day from fourth on the grid and, after working his way up to second by lap 12, set about reigning in the 5.3-second lead held at the time by eBay Motors’ Colin Turkington.
Despite the size of Turkington’s lead, Shedden was able to whittle away the deficit and entered the final lap of the race little more than half a second behind. Then, at the final corner, Shedden made his move for the lead, with both driver’s taking a trip through the gravel before the Scot emerged victorious.
“What a fantastic race!” enthused Shedden. “After just managing to miss Andrew Jordan spinning in front of me in the first corner, I was miles away from the lead, but the Civic Tourer absolutely came alive on the soft tyres – even with the success ballast. Honda really has done a great job with this car.
“As soon as I got into clear air, I couldn’t believe how good it was; I had mega traction and so much extra pace all the way round, and I was catching Colin by over a second-a-lap,” added Shedden, who took his 35th career win in the BTCC. “With five laps to go I was six seconds behind, and what a last lap! History has been made with this first win for the Civic Tourer.”
Honda Yuasa Racing Team Manager Peter Crolla is relieved to have scored the team’s first victory with their new car so early on in the campaign.
“The Civic Tourer is a very different animal to the hatchback we ran before, so to get its first win in only the second event of the year is really pleasing,” said Crolla. “Now we’ve just got to carry this momentum on to the next race weekend.
“We obviously struggled a touch in the first two races,” admitted Crolla, after the Honda drivers took just one podium finish between them in the day’s opening two races.”We were a little disappointed with the balance of the car in the tough conditions, so we’ve definitely got some work to do there – we need to go back and assess where we didn’t quite get it right – but the third race in the dry was a real highlight for us.”
Shedden’s victory takes him up to third in the driver’s championship, just one point behind joint leaders Andrew Jordan and Jason Plato.