Honda’s Gordon Shedden sensationally took the first victory for an estate car in the British Touring Car Championship at Donibgton Park, passing Colin Turkington at the final corner.
Turkington looked to have the race victory in the bag after sprinting away at the front but after passing Jason Plato, Shedden was able to hunt down the eBay Motors driver and after getting close to an overtake with half a lap to go, the Scot flung his Civic Tourer around the outside of the eBay Motors man into the chicane, with the pair colliding and running through the gravel trap before Shedden sprinted to the line to claim his first win of the season.
There was immediate chaos as the race got underway, with Andrew Jordan having to save his Pirtek Racing machine from a spin, Aiden Moffat spinning his Chevrolet Cruze and Marc Hynes ending his day in the barrier after he made contact with Warren Scott.
Precautionary action was taken with the safety car brought out to clear the stricken MG, but there was more drama at the final corner as Tom Ingram and Aron Smith dropped down the order after they were hit by Fabrizio Giovanardi, the Italian blind sighted by the pair of cars ahead and unable to see the safety car boards.
The appearance of the safety car eroded an enormous margin that Turkington had built up during the opening corners but the Northern Irishman made a similar getaway when the racing restarted on lap four, as Plato dived inside Matt Neal to claim second place as Dave Newsham spun while in a promising eighth place.
Plato and race two winner Sam Tordoff’s pace soon began to slow however, and with Shedden having passed his teammate, he then jumped the leading MG into the final chicane on lap 12, with Neal passing Plato a lap-and-a-half later into the Old Hairpin before the impressive Mat Jackson demoted him further with a move into the chicane.
The main battle from then on was the fight at the front, with Shedden’s win marking his fourth win in the last nine races at the track.
With Neal completing the podium and Jackson sealing fourth, there was still time for Plato to fall a place further behind as Andrew Jordan’s move at the chicane means the pair now share the championship lead heading to Thruxton, with Jordan ahead with two victories to one.
Rob Collard made sensational progress to finish seventh after starting 29th with the third eBay Motors BMW of Nick Foster just behind him, while Alain Menu performed similar heroics to claim ninth place with Adam Morgan rounding out the top ten.
Smith and Ingram recovered to 11th and 13th respectively, as they sandwiched Jack Goff, with 14th going to Lea Wood who had another competitive outing to claim his second points finish of the weekend, just ahead of two-time champion Giovanardi.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | |
| 1 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 18 | 23:22.396 | 1:11.064 | 4 |
| 2 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 0.502 | 1:10.818 | 1 |
| 3 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 18 | 3.937 | 1:10.881 | 2 |
| 4 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus | 18 | 6.365 | 1:11.240 | 7 |
| 5 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 18 | 9.777 | 1:10.865 | 3 |
| 6 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 18 | 13.587 | 1:11.105 | 5 |
| 7 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 16.68 | 1:11.616 | 30 |
| 8 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 18.09 | 1:11.642 | 15 |
| 9 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 18 | 19.196 | 1:11.134 | 31 |
| 10 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 19.582 | 1:11.157 | 14 |