Shedden to make BTCC return with Toyota

Three-time British Touring Automotive Championship title winner Gordon Shedden is again within the collection for 2025 on the wheel of a Toyota.

The 46-year-old Scot has been absent from the BTCC – and any type of trendy racing – for the previous two seasons after Workforce Dynamics, the crew with which he claimed his three crowns and 52 race wins, was compelled to drag the plug on the eve of the 2023 marketing campaign.

However now Shedden is the assertion signing among the many Speedworks Motorsport-run quartet of Toyota Corolla GR Sport equipment, and can race underneath the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK banner alongside a number of race winner Aron Taylor-Smith and promising fellow Scot Ronan Pearson.

Speedworks is but to assign its fourth automobile, however there are understood to be at the least two drivers in severe rivalry for the seat.

“In the end I finished due to the Halfords scenario at Workforce Dynamics – it was horrific how late their resolution to drag out was,” Shedden informed Autosport. “By that point it was too late for me to get the rest.

“The telephone rings yearly with quite a lot of individuals asking, ‘Would you have an interest?’ However this was totally different. I at all times mentioned I’d solely return if it was to one thing with a real alternative of profitable, and the keenness from Toyota themselves has been very flattering.”

In returning with Speedworks, Shedden is shifting into the seat occupied efficiently by his brother-in-law Rory Butcher, who was one of many main contenders with Speedworks from 2021-23.

He additionally reunites with engine provider Neil Brown Engineering, which constructed the Honda powerplants that took him to glory with Dynamics and is now coming into its third season offering Toyota items for Speedworks, which has been on a growth drive with the Corollas over the winter.

“Between Christian [Dick, team boss], Danny [Buxton, head of racing] and all the things occurring at Speedworks, and the insider information from Rory, I do know that is the correct time and the correct place,” mentioned Shedden, who has remained lively in historic racing over 2023-24.

“It’s nearly good timing. Now that hybrid is gone from the BTCC, it’s going to be similar to what I’m used to.

“It’s a Neil Brown engine within the Toyota, and nearly all my time in touring automobiles has been with a Neil Brown engine. And the Corolla is a short-wheelbase automobile – it’s similar to the Civic.”

Buxton added: “Since I entered into preliminary discussions with Gordon, the quantity of starvation to make this occur has received it over the road.

“I’ve relayed to Christian, ‘Have you learnt what? It’s like winding the clock again 20 years! He’s the person we wish.’”

Dick mentioned: “We’re thrilled to be bringing Gordon again to the BTCC. He’s inarguably one of many easiest drivers ever to have competed within the championship, and his achievements bear testomony to his great expertise and tenacity behind the wheel.

“His comeback in 2021 and 2022 [following a spell in the World Touring Car Cup] proved that he has misplaced none of his pace or spark, and it’s clear that his motivation and thirst for achievement nonetheless burn very brightly certainly.

“It’s no secret that the BTCC is gained and misplaced by nice margins and, along with his unquestionable ability contained in the cockpit, Gordon brings with him a wealth of expertise. That will likely be invaluable as we proceed to develop the Corolla in our efforts to extract the final tenth of a second out of it.

“With some pre-season testing between now and Donington Park, I’m very assured that he can hit the bottom working and be a number one contender from the outset.

“In Gordon, Aron and Ronan, we have now an exceptionally sturdy line-up, which I actually imagine provides us our greatest probability but of difficult for the coveted drivers’ and producers’ crowns.”