Gordon Shedden won the final race of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch, with Jack Clarke securing a landmark second place finish and Mat Jackson completing the podium in soaking conditions.
The Honda Yuasa Racing driver’s third win of the year brought the season to a typically exciting conclusion, as visibility faded with heavy rain taking hold just before the start of the race, to create similar conditions to his victory at the circuit 12 months ago.
Nick Foster leapt into the lead at the start of the race, overtaking pole-sitter Clarke – who had the grid slot after a post-race penalty for Jason Plato in race two – well before the field reached Paddock Hill, with Clarke tentatively holding station in second place.
Plato had opted to start the race from the pitlane with a view to avoiding any contact at the start, but the majority of the field made it through safely, with only Simon Belcher taking a trip through the gravel after he received a tap.
It didn’t take long for the safety car to be deployed though, after James Cole looked to have beached himself in the gravel (before digging himself out) and Rob Collard slowed on circuit.
But with both issues quickly resolved, the racing resumed on lap three and Clarke immediately went on the attack, as he harried Foster into Druids before lining up a pass at Graham Hill, grabbing the lead on the run into Surtees.
Shedden, who had made a good start, was keen to keep the Crabbie’s Racing driver in his sights and swiftly overtook Foster, immediately turned his attention to Clarke’s lead.
The pair had an enticing scrap at the end of the lap, when Shedden forced a gap from nowhere to have a run up the inside of the Ford Focus driver heading into Paddock Hill at the start of lap four. Clarke, however, held on around the outside, and with the assist of a slide for Shedden, held onto his lead with a dogged piece of driving.
Despite that move, Shedden would quickly make the move stick when he swept around the outside of Clarke through Westfields on the next lap, to gain a lead that he would not relinquish for the remainder of the race.
Shedden was flying at the front, but with only Colin Turkington and Plato making progress through the field, the next incident of note came on lap nine when Martin Depper got stuck in the gravel at the bottom of Paddock Hill. The safety car was swiftly deployed to recover the stricken Honda Civic.
The delay behind the safety car meant that when the racing resumed on lap 12, the race distance had been extended to 18 laps (although it would later be shortened back to 15 laps due to the horrendous weather conditions). Shedden bolted away once more, but there was action at Druids in the battle for third, as Jackson tapped his ex-teammate Aron Smith into a half-spin, allowing himself and Sam Tordoff through.
With Shedden now well clear at the front, attention turned to Clarke’s second place, and whether or not he could hold onto a maiden podium position. After a few hairy moments, the 26-year-old put in a stellar last couple of laps to keep Jackson and Tordoff at bay, to follow Shedden home – the Scot having salvaged something from the day for his Honda Yuasa Racing team, who had suffered a horrendous first two races which included a trip to hospital for his teammate Matt Neal.
Smith had a quiet run to fifth after Jackson’s contact, ahead of outgoing champion Andrew Jordan and Plato, who made great progress. Early leader Foster was the only eBay Motors driver to bring his car home in the points in eighth, with Tom Ingram and Marc Hynes completing their rookie years in the championship in ninth and tenth respectively.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 15 | 28:42.621 | 1:43.994 | 5 |
| 2 | 44 | I | Jack CLARKE | |
Crabbie’s Racing | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 3.614 | 1:45.431 | 1 |
| 3 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 4.426 | 1:45.645 | 11 |
| 4 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 15 | 4.758 | 1:45.319 | 9 |
| 5 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 7.083 | 1:45.264 | 4 |
| 6 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 8.523 | 1:45.102 | 7 |
| 7 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 15 | 9.192 | 1:45.641 | 28 |
| 8 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 14.286 | 1:46.520 | 2 |
| 9 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 14.947 | 1:46.486 | 6 |
| 10 | 888 | I | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 15 | 15.405 | 1:46.423 | 19 |