Gordon Shedden is
the new British Touring Car Champion, and the first Scot since John Cleland won
it in 1995 and 1989. He didn’t win any of the final three races at a rain
soaked Brands Hatch at the weekend, but a fifth, second and third was enough to do the
business.
Matt Neal and
first-time winners Aron Smith and Frank Wrathall shared the victories in
yesterday’s Dunlop MSA British Championship final rounds while the Honda Civic achieved a clean sweep of all five BTCC titles. In
addition to Shedden, Andrew Jordan collected the Independent Drivers’ Trophy,
Honda/Dynamics the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship and the Honda Yuasa
Racing Team and Pirtek Racing the outright HiQ and Independent teams’ trophies
respectively.
The 33 year old
Shedden said afterwards: “All I ever wanted as a kid was to race touring cars –
it was never about F1 – and it was John Cleland who was my hero when I used to
go and catch a glimpse of the BTCC at my home track of Knockhill in Fife. I
never thought I’d ever get the chance to race them, though, let alone win a race
and now I’m the Champion. It is mind blowing… what a season, not just for
myself but everyone at Honda. I’d also like to thank everyone who was cheering
for me back home in Scotland today – including in the bar at Knockhill! I can’t
wait to get home and celebrate with them.”
Shedden’s
team-mate Matt Neal, who finished second in the standings, said: “Gordon has driven
superbly all season, has amassed the most wins and massively deserves to be
Champion. As a team we all pull together at Honda and the Civic has simply been
the class of the field all year. A clean sweep of titles is the perfect
result.”
