Gordon William Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a British auto racing driver. He last competed in the British Touring Car Championship for the Halfords Racing with Cataclean team. He has previously won the series on three occasions; in 2012,[1] 2015 and 2016, driving for Honda/Team Dynamics each time. He also spent two seasons in the FIA WTCR, from 2018 to 2019, driving for the Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team.

Gordon Shedden
Born (1979-02-15) 15 February 1979 (age 45)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Related toRory Butcher (brother-in-law)
World Touring Car Cup career
Debut season2018
Current teamAudi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team
Car number52
Starts57
Wins1
Poles1
Fastest laps0
Best finish13th in 2018
Previous series
2017
2011
2008
2005
2003–04
2001, 200617
2000
2000
2000
TCR International Series
British GT Championship
FIA GT Championship
Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
SEAT Cupra Championship
British Touring Car Championship
Dutch Touring Cars
Ford Fiesta Championship
National Saloon Cup Great Britain
Championship titles
2012, 201516
2000
British Touring Car Championship
Ford Fiesta Championship
Awards
2012, 2015–16Autosport National Driver of the Year

Racing career

edit

Early years

edit

Born in Edinburgh, Shedden began racing in the Ford Fiesta Championship in 1999 with Tim Norton Motor Services Ltd. Racing Team, www.timnortonnmotors.co.uk, and won it the following season with 9 wins. He raced in the SEAT Cupra Championship, finishing as runner-up in 2003 and 4th in 2004. He also made a one-off appearance in the Production Class of the BTCC at Knockhill in 2001, and at the same circuit in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain in 2005.[2]

He was entered in the 2002 BTCC by GR Motorsport in an Alfa Romeo, but this never reached the track. (http://www.touringcarregister.com/register/492/)

He has worked as Business Development Manager for the Knockhill circuit,[3] alongside his wife Jillian. He has raced at Macau several times.

British Touring Car Championship

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Team Dynamics (2006–2009)

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Shedden celebrates his first BTCC win at Oulton Park in 2006.

For 2006, Shedden was chosen by Team Halfords to drive for them in the BTCC, alongside reigning series champion Matt Neal, noting that "it's brilliant to have a teammate that I can learn so much from". He took his first win in the series in race 7 at Oulton Park, and added another in round 10 at Thruxton, where he also took his first pole position. He finished 4th overall with five wins in 2006, finishing the season as rookie of the year. In 2007 his team switched to the Honda Civic, and again took four wins. He was again 4th overall ahead of Neal.

In 2008 he was the team leader alongside Tom Chilton, with Neal leaving to join VX Racing. He took a 2nd place in the season opener,[4] but crashed heavily in race 3.[5] He did not achieve a podium finish at Donington Park,[6] and at Thruxton he led races 1 and 3, but suffered punctures on lap 8 of both races. He was placed in 7th in the Drivers Championship.

2009 saw Shedden joined at Team Dynamics (previously Team Halfords) by former Luton Town F.C. Chairman, David Pinkney. He also took on a new role as Team Ambassador for new racing team, YourRacingCar.com who contested their first year together in the BTCC support series, the Ginetta G50 Cup. He was ranked 9th in the Drivers Standings but was later replaced by James Thompson.

CVR and GR Asia (2009)

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Shedden's Civic leads two of the VX Racing Vauxhalls at the Croft round of the 2008 British Touring Car Championship season.

On 15 April 2009 it was announced that James Thompson would be replacing Shedden in the Team Dynamics car for the remainder of the 2009 season. The team said it was working on funds for a 3rd car for Gordon to run later in the season. However, before the round at Snetterton Shedden was signed by Clyde Valley Racing. After competing at two events for the team, they withdrew from the rest of the season. After missing the Silverstone round, Shedden rejoined the series at the penultimate round with the same bio-ethanol SEAT León that he raced for CVR, under the Club SEAT banner. Despite all the changes Shedden managed 2 podiums during 2009 and finished up in 12th in the Drivers Standings.

Honda Racing (2010–2017)

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Shedden driving for Honda Racing at Brands Hatch in the 2011 BTCC season.

After Team Dynamics became an official manufacturer Honda team ahead of the 2010 season, Shedden and Neal were re-signed by the team. Shedden secured pole position for the first race of the season at Thruxton, he led the opening race but suffered a 125 mph shunt as a result of a puncture. Shedden won 2 races at Croft Circuit followed by wins at Snetterton, Knockhill and Donington and finished 3rd in the Drivers Championship.[7]

Shedden remained with Honda for the 2011 season with the Honda Civic now powered by an NGTC turbocharged engine. He finished the drivers championship in second place, 8 points behind his team mate Matt Neal having been his only title challenger at the penultimate race of the season.

Shedden stayed with Honda in 2012, driving the new full-NGTC Honda Civic. His teammate would Matt Neal for the third year in a row. He had a disappointing opening round at Brands Hatch, his car was plagued with electrical problems for much of the weekend. He was disqualified from the third race of the day after his team worked on his car during the red flag period.[8] Things improved at the next round where Shedden took two wins from three races, including one inherited due to penalties for Mat Jackson and Jason Plato. Problems for Plato at Oulton Park and good results put him in the championship lead after the first race.[9] He was second in the championship going into the summer break, one point behind team-mate Neal. When the season resumed at Snetterton, Shedden's car caught fire in the first free practice session.[10] Shedden finished third in race three but post-race scrutineering found that his Honda had been over-boosting, thus disqualifying him from the results.[11] He won two of the three races at Rockingham in wet conditions where he regained the championship lead.[12] Shedden secured his first BTCC title in race two at Brands Hatch, finishing second behind Aron Smith.

 
Shedden driving for Honda at Oulton Park during the 2013 British Touring Car Championship season.

The Honda team retained Shedden and Neal for 2013 in a pair of Honda Civics.[13] He was excluded from the second race at the season opening Brands Hatch round having failed the ride height test, elevating Jeff Smith to the final podium spot. He went on to finish 2nd in the standings just 7 points away from retaining his crown.

2014 saw the Honda team make the switch to run the new Honda tourer model for a year. It happened to be fairly unsuccessful however. Shedden managed two wins, 8 podiums and finished up 3rd in the drivers championship.

For 2015 the team ran a pair of brand new Honda Type Rs. Shedden took the cars first win in just the second race of the season. In what was to be one of the most tense and dramatic title showdowns ever. Shedden took the title by just 4 points from Jason Plato and thus his second drivers title.

 
Shedden, at the Knockhill round of the 2017 British Touring Car Championship.

Halfords returned as the team's main sponsor for 2016 a full 10 years since they took Matt Neal to his second drivers title. Shedden hit the ground running with a win at the first round. However a lean spell mid season due to some bad luck saw Shedden sitting 9th in the standings at the halfway point. In the second half of the season Shedden would take 3 wins and 4 podiums to claw back the points deficit to BMW's Sam Tordoff. In the last race of the season Shedden overtook Tordoff to clinch his third championship title. Shedden became the first man to successfully defend his crown since Fabrizio Giovanardi in 2008.

World Touring Car Cup

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Audi Sport WRT (2018–2019)

edit

In January 2018, Shedden announced his departure from Team Dynamics, stating he was moving onto “pastures new”. It was later announced that he would switch to the World Touring Car Cup championship, driving for the W Racing Team Audi works team.[14] In December 2019 the WRT team announced it will not be running in 2020 in the World Touring Cup leaving Gordon without a seat.

Top Gear

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Shedden has made multiple appearances on Top Gear. His first appearance came in Series 12, Episode 5, where he drove a Mercedes-Benz O305G Articulated bus in a bus race. In Series 14, Episode 4, he drove an articulated bus in the airport vehicles race.[15] In series 20, episode 2, he participated in and won a taxi race driving a Hindustan Ambassador.

Racing record

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Complete British Touring Car Championship results

edit

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 2001 all races, 2006–present just in first race, 2001 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2001–present all races, 2001 in class) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point given – 2001–present all races)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points Class
2001 GR Motorsport Ford Focus P BRH
1
BRH
2
THR
1
THR
2
OUL
1
OUL
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MON
1
MON
2
DON
1
DON
2
KNO
1

3
KNO
2

5*
SNE
1
SNE
2
CRO
1
CRO
2
OUL
1
OUL
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
DON
1
DON
2
BRH
1
BRH
2
30 15th
2006 Team Halfords Honda Integra Type-R BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

4
MON
1

5
MON
2

DSQ
MON
3

6
OUL
1

1*
OUL
2

3
OUL
3

Ret
THR
1

1*
THR
2

2
THR
3

11
CRO
1

12
CRO
2

4
CRO
3

17
DON
1

1*
DON
2

1*
DON
3

3
SNE
1

Ret
SNE
2

6
SNE
3

5
KNO
1

6
KNO
2

Ret
KNO
3

2*
BRH
1

7
BRH
2

4
BRH
3

2
SIL
1

6
SIL
2

2
SIL
3

Ret
4th 204
2007 Team Halfords Honda Civic BRH
1

8
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

Ret
ROC
1

4
ROC
2

Ret
ROC
3

6
THR
1

Ret
THR
2

8
THR
3

2
CRO
1

2
CRO
2

Ret*
CRO
3

4
OUL
1

1*
OUL
2

Ret
OUL
3

4
DON
1

1*
DON
2

2*
DON
3

5
SNE
1

1*
SNE
2

Ret*
SNE
3

5
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

3
BRH
3

2
KNO
1

Ret
KNO
2

4
KNO
3

1*
THR
1

3
THR
2

Ret
THR
3

9
3rd 200
2008 Team Halfords Honda Civic BRH
1

6
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

Ret
ROC
1

1*
ROC
2

4
ROC
3

4
DON
1

4
DON
2

9*
DON
3

10
THR
1

13*
THR
2

8
THR
3

17*
CRO
1

3*
CRO
2

Ret
CRO
3

6
SNE
1

4
SNE
2

8
SNE
3

Ret
OUL
1

7
OUL
2

8
OUL
3

1*
KNO
1

4
KNO
2

4
KNO
3

8
SIL
1

13
SIL
2

8
SIL
3

11
BRH
1

13
BRH
2

9
BRH
3

9
7th 144
2009 Team Dynamics Honda Civic BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

6
BRH
3

5
THR
1
THR
2
THR
3
DON
1
DON
2
DON
3
OUL
1
OUL
2
OUL
3
CRO
1
CRO
2
CRO
3
14th 34
Cartridge World
Carbon Zero Racing
SEAT León SNE
1

Ret
SNE
2

10
SNE
3

12
KNO
1

2
KNO
2

9*
KNO
3

Ret
SIL
1
SIL
2
SIL
3
Club SEAT ROC
1

12
ROC
2

Ret
ROC
3

8
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

10
BRH
3

9
2010 Honda Racing Team Honda Civic THR
1

Ret*
THR
2

11
THR
3

4
ROC
1

2
ROC
2

13
ROC
3

Ret
BRH
1

2
BRH
2

2*
BRH
3

9
OUL
1

2
OUL
2

Ret
OUL
3

10
CRO
1

1*
CRO
2

1*
CRO
3

9
SNE
1

4
SNE
2

8
SNE
3

1*
SIL
1

10
SIL
2

7
SIL
3

5
KNO
1

1*
KNO
2

2*
KNO
3

9
DON
1

1*
DON
2

2*
DON
3

6
BRH
1

2
BRH
2

NC
BRH
3

8
3rd 218
2011 Honda Racing Team Honda Civic BRH
1

6
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

4
DON
1

DSQ
DON
2

6
DON
3

Ret
THR
1

1*
THR
2

2*
THR
3

6
OUL
1

1*
OUL
2

6*
OUL
3

2
CRO
1

5
CRO
2

4
CRO
3

6
SNE
1

3
SNE
2

1*
SNE
3

7
KNO
1

3
KNO
2

1*
KNO
3

5
ROC
1

6
ROC
2

1*
ROC
3

21
BRH
1

19
BRH
2

8
BRH
3

2*
SIL
1

2
SIL
2

1*
SIL
3

10
2nd 249
2012 Honda Yuasa Racing Team Honda Civic BRH
1

5
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

DSQ
DON
1

2
DON
2

1*
DON
3

1*
THR
1

6
THR
2

1*
THR
3

1*
OUL
1

4
OUL
2

1*
OUL
3

4
CRO
1

3*
CRO
2

1*
CRO
3

6
SNE
1

7
SNE
2

2
SNE
3

DSQ
KNO
1

3
KNO
2

3
KNO
3

Ret
ROC
1

3
ROC
2

1*
ROC
3

1*
SIL
1

7
SIL
2

7
SIL
3

6
BRH
1

5
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

3
1st 408
2013 Honda Yuasa Racing Team Honda Civic BRH
1

19
BRH
2

DSQ
BRH
3

2
DON
1

1*
DON
2

3*
DON
3

2
THR
1

25
THR
2

3
THR
3

1*
OUL
1

3
OUL
2

2
OUL
3

17
CRO
1

3
CRO
2

2
CRO
3

4
SNE
1

3
SNE
2

7
SNE
3

1*
KNO
1

2
KNO
2

3
KNO
3

Ret
ROC
1

4
ROC
2

2
ROC
3

5
SIL
1

11
SIL
2

7
SIL
3

1*
BRH
1

2
BRH
2

7
BRH
3

1*
2nd 390
2014 Honda Yuasa Racing Team Honda Civic Tourer BRH
1

4
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

6
DON
1

6
DON
2

3
DON
3

1*
THR
1

3
THR
2

1*
THR
3

6
OUL
1

4
OUL
2

5
OUL
3

2
CRO
1

2
CRO
2

2
CRO
3

4
SNE
1

7
SNE
2

3
SNE
3

5
KNO
1

3
KNO
2

12
KNO
3

6
ROC
1

8
ROC
2

8
ROC
3

Ret
SIL
1

14
SIL
2

11
SIL
3

8
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

6
BRH
3

1*
3rd 349
2015 Honda Yuasa Racing Team Honda Civic Type R BRH
1

6
BRH
2

1*
BRH
3

NC
DON
1

2
DON
2

14
DON
3

3
THR
1

1*
THR
2

3
THR
3

5
OUL
1

6
OUL
2

2
OUL
3

4
CRO
1

4
CRO
2

5
CRO
3

3*
SNE
1

14
SNE
2

Ret
SNE
3

24
KNO
1

5
KNO
2

1*
KNO
3

8
ROC
1

2
ROC
2

1*
ROC
3

8
SIL
1

3
SIL
2

4
SIL
3

5
BRH
1

6
BRH
2

19
BRH
3

4
1st 348
2016 Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R BRH
1

2
BRH
2

1*
BRH
3

Ret
DON
1

11
DON
2

4
DON
3

2
THR
1

Ret
THR
2

4
THR
3

Ret
OUL
1

4
OUL
2

4
OUL
3

23
CRO
1

15
CRO
2

13
CRO
3

22
SNE
1

2*
SNE
2

10
SNE
3

1*
KNO
1

9
KNO
2

9
KNO
3

4
ROC
1

1*
ROC
2

10*
ROC
3

2
SIL
1

23
SIL
2

8
SIL
3

1*
BRH
1

5
BRH
2

3
BRH
3

3
1st 308
2017 Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R BRH
1

2
BRH
2

1*
BRH
3

7
DON
1

7
DON
2

6
DON
3

DSQ
THR
1

2
THR
2

2
THR
3

4
OUL
1

7
OUL
2

4
OUL
3

1*
CRO
1

5
CRO
2

4
CRO
3

9
SNE
1

13
SNE
2

7
SNE
3

1*
KNO
1

11
KNO
2

6
KNO
3

2
ROC
1

30
ROC
2

Ret
ROC
3

12
SIL
1

11
SIL
2

7
SIL
3

21
BRH
1

7
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

6
4th 309
2021 Halfords Racing
with Cataclean
Honda Civic Type R THR
1

Ret
THR
2

18
THR
3

4
SNE
1

15
SNE
2

11
SNE
3

3
BRH
1

2
BRH
2

21
BRH
3

16
OUL
1

2
OUL
2

6
OUL
3

3
KNO
1

8
KNO
2

5
KNO
3

4
THR
1

13
THR
2

Ret
THR
3

Ret
CRO
1

10
CRO
2

6
CRO
3

2
SIL
1

Ret
SIL
2

19
SIL
3

21
DON
1

1*
DON
2

1*
DON
3

13
BRH
1

3
BRH
2

3
BRH
3

7
6th 251
2022 Halfords Racing
with Cataclean
Honda Civic Type R DON
1

3
DON
2

1*
DON
3

9
BRH
1

8
BRH
2

6
BRH
3

11
THR
1

24
THR
2

11
THR
3

Ret
OUL
1

6
OUL
2

5
OUL
3

4
CRO
1

Ret
CRO
2

12
CRO
3

1*
KNO
1

7
KNO
2

5
KNO
3

6
SNE
1

10
SNE
2

Ret
SNE
3

15
THR
1

2
THR
2

3
THR
3

9
SIL
1

4
SIL
2

3
SIL
3

8
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

19
BRH
3

13
7th 248
Sources:[16][17][18]

Complete British GT Championship results

edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Pts
2011 Rosso Verde Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 OUL
1
OUL
2
SNE
1
BRH
1
SPA
1
SPA
2
ROC
1
ROC
2
DON
1

6
SIL
1

11
21st 12
Source:[17]

Complete TCR International Series results

edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2017 Leopard Racing
Team WRT
Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR RIM
1
RIM
2
BHR
1
BHR
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
OSC
1
OSC
2
CHA
1
CHA
2
ZHE
1
ZHE
2
DUB
1

2
DUB
2

7
19th 31
Sources:[18][19]

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points
2018 Audi Sport
Leopard Lukoil Team
Audi RS 3 LMS TCR MAR
1

5
MAR
2

11
MAR
3

18†
HUN
1

18
HUN
2

15
HUN
3

12
GER
1

7
GER
2

18
GER
3

13
NED
1

4
NED
2

6
NED
3

5
POR
1

9
POR
2

6
POR
3

17†
SVK
1

17
SVK
2

15
SVK
3

Ret
CHN
1

14
CHN
2

14
CHN
3

13
WUH
1

3
WUH
2

Ret
WUH
3

1
JPN
1

18
JPN
2

18
JPN
3

16
MAC
1

Ret
MAC
2

14
MAC
3

Ret
13th 122
2019 Leopard Racing
Team Audi Sport
Audi RS 3 LMS TCR MAR
1

14
MAR
2

15
MAR
3

7
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

Ret
HUN
3

21
SVK
1

12
SVK
2

13
SVK
3

15
NED
1

17
NED
2

22
NED
3

24
GER
1

Ret
GER
2

21
GER
3

9
POR
1

16
POR
2

20
POR
3

Ret
CHN
1

22
CHN
2

13
CHN
3

15
JPN
1

Ret
JPN
2

20
JPN
3

20
MAC
1

WD
MAC
2

WD
MAC
3

WD
MAL
1

15
MAL
2

27
MAL
3

Ret
26th 35
Sources:[17][18]

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Shedden receives Autosport award". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 3 December 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Round 8 – Knockhill 27 August – 28th". Parr Motorsport. Parr. 28 August 2005. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  3. ^ Morrison, Iain (3 September 2006). "Sheddon hits the home straight". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  4. ^ Disdale, James (31 March 2008). "BTCC opening round". Auto Express. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  5. ^ Collantine, Keith; Goodwin, Andrew (31 March 2008). "Giovanardi wins as team mate crashes". Auto Trader. Trader Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  6. ^ "Podium blank for race ace at Donington". Dunfermline Press. Forth Weekly Press. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  7. ^ "Shedden secures final victory". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 8 August 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  8. ^ Matt Neal makes strong season start for Honda, TouringCarTimes.
  9. ^ Hudson, Neil. "Shedden soars into points lead after strong day". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  10. ^ Hudson, Neil (11 August 2012). "Practice fireball for Gordon Shedden". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Shedden excluded from results". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 12 August 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  12. ^ "Rockingham race round-up". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 23 September 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  13. ^ "Honda confirms 2013 attack". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 14 December 2012. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  14. ^ "Gordon Shedden to drive Audi in 2018 WTCR season". 15 February 2018.
  15. ^ Gordon Shedden, IMDb.
  16. ^ "Gordon Shedden". BTCC Action. Archived from the original on 17 February 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
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  19. ^ "TCR International Series - Season 2017: Results". Speedsport Magazine. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
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  Media related to Gordon Shedden at Wikimedia Commons

Sporting positions
Preceded by British Touring Car Championship
Champion

2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Touring Car Championship
Champion

20152016
Succeeded by
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Autosport Awards
National Driver of the Year

2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by Autosport Awards
National Driver of the Year

2015–2016
Succeeded by