Gordon Shedden will replace Matt Neal in pre-season testing for Team Dynamics ahead of the 2020 British Touring Car Championship season, as Neal recovers from a recent mountain biking injury.
Shedden raced with Team Dynamics for 11 seasons, securing three titles in the process in 2012, 2015 and 2016, before leaving to join the FIA world Touring Car Cup in 2018 and 2019.
The Scot has since struggled to match the success he enjoyed in the BTCC, and last year failed to secure a podium finish all year whilst racing an Audi RS3 LMS TCR for the WRT team.
With WRT having confirmed it will not run in WTCR this year, and Audi Sport having pulled its factory WTCR backing, Shedden’s touring car future has been uncertain during the off-season.
The Scot will now return to Team Dynamics for pre-season testing whilst Neal recovers from his injuries.
Neal admitted that there was no better driver then his team-mate of ten years to take over his duties whilst he recovers.
“My recovery is going well and everything is starting to mend,” said Neal. “I’m doing everything possible to get in the car for the first round at Donington at the end of March.
“However, we have undertaken a lot of changes to the car over the winter period that we need to try on track and we need to do this with a back to back comparative test programme.
“So there was no better choice than my old team mate Flash. He knows the team, he knows our work ethic and he is the natural choice to jump into my seat.”
Shedden is looking forward to comparing the new FK8 Civic to the older FK2 model with which he enjoyed so much success in the 2010s.
“Team Dynamics has always been my race family and I’m happy to help out,” said Shedden. “We have kept in constant contact since I went to WTCR and I have been down and seen the boys on a number of occasions over that two year period.
“Obviously, my friendship with Matt means I really feel for him, and hope that he can make a speedy recovery, but at the business end we need to get the job done and get the cars race ready for the start of the season.
“I haven’t driven the Honda Civic Type R FK8 yet so I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel and assisting with its development.
“Both Matt and Dan [Cammish] have been telling me how awesome it is to drive, so it will be interesting to compare it to the old FK2 that I won back-to-back drivers titles in 2015 and 2016!”