The gap at the top of the British Touring Car Championship is now down to five points after a mixed up weekend at Rockingham. Gordon Shedden, Sam Tordoff, and Aron Smith all took wins on the Leicestershire track after crazy weather in qualifying mixed up the grid.
Race One
After torrential rain in qualifying, it was Gordon Shedden who started race one on pole whilst an engine problem for championship leader Tordoff at the back of the pack.
It was a good get away for Shedden, defending against second place starter Mat Jackson briefly before beginning to pull away. Any gap was wiped out though when a number of small incidents on the opening lap brought out the safety car.
Mark Howard and Martin Depper both found themselves in trouble on the opening lap, and needed to be brought into the pits early on. They wouldn’t be the only retirements from the race, with Jake Hill, Matt Simpson, and Dan Welch all falling into difficulty later on in the race.
The safety car was brought back into the pits at the end of lap two and the race could begin again. It was another good pull away from Shedden, who managed to build up a lead of seven tenths of a second by the end of the first full racing lap.
From there it was a relatively simple race for the Scot. Shedden brought the Honda to the flag after the eighteenth lap with a two and a half second lead to second, having secured the fastest lap during the race. It was maximum points for Shedden, very much needed for his championship fight.
“I’m giving it everything to claw my way into the title race,” he said. “The championship’s swinging so much round by round. I don’t want to let go of it just yet. Another win is just the momentum we need at this point in the season. Mat [Jackson] almost got around the outside of me into turn two on the opening lap. He got a good run but I held on.”
Jackson was able to stay in second, but he couldn’t get up to much attacking when the Subarus of Jason Plato and Colin Turkington breathing down his neck. The two BMR drivers had managed to get past third place starter Josh Cook on the opening lap.
The battle for the second step of the podium took the entire race, but neither Plato nor Turkington could find a way past Jackson.
“It was a good race for us,” said the Motorbase driver. “The Subaru didn’t look as if it had the legs through the corners but in traction they definitely had the advantage that comes with the rear-wheel drive. Every lap he [Jason Plato] was within striking distance of going up the inside at turn two but he couldn’t quite make it past. It’s good for us and good for the championship result.”
Plato finished third with team mate Colin Turkington only three tenths of a second behind him as they crossed the line. Behind them Cook and Ashley Sutton brought the MG cars home in fifth and sixth.
Elsewhere, the BMW drivers of Tordoff and Rob Collard impressed with their climb up through the field. After starting 26th and 27th, the duo launched up through the pack on the opening lap and continued to push forwards throughout the race (look out for them in our stats article later).
Tordoff eventually crossed the line in tenth.
Race Two
Tordoff’s climb up through the field only continued in race two. After starting the race from tenth, another fantastic opening lap saw the BMW driver leap up to fifth before the field crossed the start/finish line for the first time.
Shedden may have started on pole, but he didn’t stay there for long. Second place starter Jackson took the lead of the race on the second lap and, by the fourth lap, Shedden was down in tenth.
Honda put the poor race down to taking the harder tyre compound and carrying the maximum ballast.
Jackson kept the lead of the race until the midway point, when the charging Tordoff managed to take the lead.
Andy Jordan, who had started down in seventh, had also pushed his way up through the field. Jordan had quickly caught up with his team mate and, besides two laps when Tordoff was trying to get past Jackson, he kept close behind him.
On lap 12, Jordan finally managed to get past Jackson, who slipped back to fourth after Rob Collard managed to grab the final step of the podium.
“Fair play to the team because once again my engineer John made a big call with setup and it transformed the car – it was absolutely beautiful,” said Tordoff. “It was probably my most enjoyable race ever. I could put the car wherever I wanted and, after yesterday, it’s a fantastic turnaround.
“I’ve become better at parking reservations to one side and concentrating on the driving, telling the guys it would be ok. The Fords knew what was coming. Fair play to them, they knew they were in a different race to me.”
Race Three
It was stop-start in the third race of the season, when the safety car had to pause the action three times. It was exactly what pole sitter Aron Smith didn’t need as he tried to keep the lead from challengers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.
Dan Welch and Tom Ingram found themselves in trouble on the opening lap, both retiring and bringing out the safety car for the first time.
After two laps, the safety car returned to the pits, Smith controlled the restart, even with Matt Neal and Mat Jackson right on his tail.
A storming start from Shedden soon put pressure on Jackson and Neal though, giving Smith a little room to breathe as they neared the midpoint of the race. The Scot took both Mat and Matt in quick succession, but his charge up the field was stopped by the second safety car of the race.
There was no change at the restart, but it didn’t take Subaru’s Colin Turkington long to continue his climb up through the pack. Turkington had started fifteenth, and was up in seventh by the time the safety car had retirued to the pits for a second time.
Within three laps, Turkington had made it up to fourth and was battling hard against Matt Neal, who was down in third. The Subaru driver just managed to get ahead of Neal just before the safety car was brought out for a third and final time.
From that point on, there was no change in the order at the top of the field. There were three laps left by the time the safety car cleared the track for the final time, but there was no movement from inside the top ten.
Turkington tried to take Shedden for the second place, giving Smith enough breathing room to take a well deserved victory, but couldn’t get past the Honda driver.
Smith’s victory makes it a total of twelve different race winners so far this season.
As the championship heads to the penultimate round, Tordoff leads the championship by five points to Matt Neal, with Gordon Shedden a further fifteen points behind his team mate.
Image Credit: Caroline Rhea
