Shedden fastest on BTCC return at Silverstone test

Three-time British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden has topped the timesheets on his official return to the series after setting the quickest lap at the Silverstone media day test.

Shedden posted a 57.108s lap during the afternoon running to emerge from the pre-season test as the man to beat ahead of the morning's surprise pace setter Jack Goff in the brand new Team HARD built Cupra Leon.

Goff actually dipped below his morning benchmark during the afternoon segment with a 57.302s effort, but it wasn't enough to topple the leading Honda Civic Type-R runner off the top-spot.

BTC Racing's Michael Crees was third quickest, just 0.005s behind Goff in second, while Tom Ingram was fourth fastest on his first appearance in the Excelr8 Hyundai.

Having sat out the 2020 season, two-time champion Jason Plato was immediately back on the pace in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra and set the fifth quickest time ahead reigning champion Ash Sutton in sixth.

Incredibly, just 0.194s covered the time set from the Infiniti of Sutton in sixth position to the Toyota Corolla of Sam Smelt in 21st.

With the Ciceley Motorsport squad running BMW machinery for the first time this season, its driver Adam Morgan ended the test as the fastest BMW runner after placing his new 3 Series seventh on the timesheets.

Series returnee Dan Lloyd also impressed on his first outing in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra in eighth. The former BTCC race winner posted a time under 0.2s shy of his team mate Plato.

Team Dynamics' new recruit Dan Rowbottom consolidated a strong afternoon for the Honda contingent in ninth position, ahead of fellow Civic Type-R runner Josh Cook in tenth.

Elsewhere, last season's championship runner-up Colin Turkington racked up considerable mileage in the Team BMW 3 Series on his way to posting the 13th quickest time in the afternoon session.

The four-time champion was second fastest behind Goff in the morning running, but didn't improve on his 57.531s lap in the afternoon.