Gordon Shedden dedicated his race one victory to the memory of fellow Scot David Leslie after taking his first win of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Rockingham.
On the weekend that the BTCC community came together to pay tribute to both Leslie and David Lloyd following their deaths in a plane crash last month, Shedden secured pole position at the wheel of his Team Halfords Honda Civic and then led the opening race from start-to-finish, despite the challenge of Darren Turner and the arrival of a brief rain shower that left track conditions far from easy at the Northamptonshire venue.
The second race saw Shedden secure a solid fourth place finish and the Scot repeated the feat in the final race despite horrendous weather conditions that left him barely able to see out of his car due to the windscreen steaming up on the Civic.
However, it was the result of race one that gave Shedden most pleasure on a weekend where he jumped up to third in the championship standings.
To stick it on pole was a bonus as I was about a second quicker than on the media day so we found good improvement in the car, he said. To win race one under the circumstances was really special, and I want to dedicate that win to David Leslie.
Two fourth places finishes after that are results I'm delighted with, especially with the ballast onboard in race two and the fact that my car steamed up on the first lap of race one I couldn't even see the windscreen wipers at one point. I'm delighted to bring it home in one piece and to get some solid points. If I could have seen where I was going in the final race, I would have had a podium along with Tom.
Shedden added that his battle with Turner in the opening race had shown the need to race the diesel Leon in a different manner to the petrol machines, with the SEAT having been able to close in round the quick oval section before losing out during the trickier infield.
