Shedden dominates to take a comfortable reverse grid race victory

Gordon Shedden caps off a marvellous recovery from his race one woes to win the final race of the day in convincing fashion at Croft.

Simon Evans

26 Jun 2022

Gordon Shedden (GBR) - Halfords Racing with Cataclean Honda Civic Type

Team Dynamics Honda's Gordon Shedden produced a dominant drive to win the reverse grid British Touring Car Championship race ahead of Josh Cook at Croft.

The three-time champion led every lap of the reverse grid encounter after starting the race from pole position. Shedden made his intentions clear right from the off after the Honda driver built a near one-second as early as lap one.

That margin only grew as the race progressed, with Shedden setting a string of consistent lap times, while the battle for second position raged on behind him.

Shedden's 52nd career BTCC win marks his second victory of the 2022 season.

Second position eventually went the way of BTC Racing Honda's Josh Cook, but only after absorbing lap after lap of sustained pressure from Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Rory Butcher in third.

Butcher looked to have seized the initiative on lap two of the race, but Cook immediately snapped back at the Toyota driver to reclaim second position on the exit of Tower corner.

After resisting Butcher's early attacks, Cook grew in stature as the race progressed. The BTC driver gradually managed to build some degree of clear air between himself and Butcher by the end of the race.

Butcher eventually settled for third ahead of the entire West Surrey Racing BMW contingent, led by Stephen Jelley in fourth position. Jake Hill followed his team mate home in fifth, while four-time champion Colin Turkington enjoyed a strong final race to finish in sixth after starting from ninth.

EXCELR8 Motorsport's Tom Ingram retained his slender championship lead ahead of BTC Racing's Cook after finishing race three in seventh.

Second position for Cook means the Honda driver sits just three-points behind Ingram, while Team BMW's Turkington moves to within 12-points of the championship lead.

NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish ended a tricky weekend for Motorbase Performance outfit in eighth position, while Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan completed the top-ten order in ninth and tenth.

Elsewhere, defending champion Ash Sutton suffered another race three non-score after contact with Chilton saw the Ford driver limp back to the pits with damage to rear left of his Focus machine.

That means Sutton has now fallen to fourth in the championship standings, 24-points adrift of Ingram.