Podium finish for Sheddenposted in BTCC03 | 04 | 2011
SCOT GORDON SHEDDEN, who walked away from a 130mph crash which "wrecked" his Honda during practice on Saturday morning, left the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch with a podium finish.
"The car was basically in kit form when they got it back to the garage on Saturday," Shedden, the 31-year-old from Dalgety Bay, explained today. "Obviously it was a very severe accident. Looking at the data it was more than 10G of impact.
"The car was wrecked, but the guys at Honda worked a miracle overnight. They basically started as soon as they got the car back in the garage at 10.15 yesterday morning and worked through till 1am this morning.
"Then they were back in working again at 6am today; how on earth they built a race car out of the pile of scrap which came back in after free practice yesterday I'll never know.
"Don't underestimate the challenge they had. Make no mistake, that car was scrap yesterday. It's massive testament to them that I managed to be on the grid for the first race of the season today. How they did it I genuinely don't know."
While defending champ Jason Plato won the opening two races — the 61st and 62nd wins of his BTCC career to set a new record — Shedden seared through the field from 22nd and last on the grid to finish sixth in the opener.
In the second race, starting from sixth, the fiery Scot — one of the pre-season favourites for the championship — maintained his form to finish second behind Plato.
The final race of the day saw Shedden's Honda team-mate, former champ Matt Neal, win his first race of the season; the Scot finished fourth.
And there was a solid debut BTCC weekend for Inverness racer Dave Newsham. Last year's Renault Clio Cup champ finished 11th, 12th and 10th in his opening three races.
Shedden (pictured with his second-place trophy) meanwhile heads to Donington Park for the next triple-header fourth in the championship, just 13 points adrift of leader Plato, and one point off third-place.
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Jim McGill