Gordon Shedden gave his 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship assault a massive boost by winning the second race of the day at Silverstone.

Gordon Shedden will go into the final race of the day with a six point deficit to make the championship go down to the final race of the season.

Starting from second on the grid, Shedden got a brilliant start off the line and took the lead on the exit of Copse on the first lap. The Scot never looked back and led for the full duration of the race despite having his lead pegged back with a safety car period on lap 15. Gordon Shedden held on to take the win ahead of team-mate, Matt Neal, to give Honda their second 1-2 of the day after the first two races.

“It’s easier to lead from the front and after the safety car he [Matt Neal] was hot on my heels but I’m just happy to have just enough pace to make it to the end first,” said Shedden after the race.

Championship leader, Matt Neal, saw his lead pegged back slightly despite finishing the race in second place. A mistake on the first corner allowed Shedden and Onslow-Cole to pass but a later mistake from the Ford driver allowed the two-time champion, looking for his third title, move into second and score extra points which are vital with the championship so close at this late stage.

Tom Onslow-Cole will be pleased with his podium finish and the independent drivers race win. He started from 4th on the grid but was running as high as second for much of the race before falling back into third where he would finish the race.

Speaking after the race he said, “It was a really good race. I thought we might have been in with a shout for the win after such a good start, but after the momentum of the first couple of laps I don’t think we quite had enough to get past the Hondas. I was able to stay with them quite easily but getting past them would have been extremely difficult. I’m really happy to finish on the podium after a difficult day yesterday.”

Another driver which would be delighted would be Dave Newsham. Much like the first race of the day, Dave kept his Special Tuning Racing SEAT out of trouble and took another personal best finish in the BTCC.

Andrew Jordan brought home his turbo-powered Vauxhall Vectra in 5th ahead of Tom Boardman who made up 17 places during the race after starting down in 22nd place.

Jason Plato battled his way through the field to finish in 7th but unfortunately that ended his title challenge for the reigning champion.

8th and 9th was separated by just 0.017 seconds but it was Tom Chilton that crossed the line ahead of Alex MacDowall with Dan Welch scoring his first ever points in the BTCC in his Welch Motorsport Proton Gen-2.

The draw for the third race of the day has been made and Alex MacDowall will start on pole with the top nine finishers from race two being reversed. That means that Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden will start from 8th and 9th respectively.

For full classification of race two, click here.

Photo Credit: Jon Hobley

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.