GORDON SHEDDEN pulled himself firmly into Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) contention with a trio of top 10 finishes on his home track.

But it was a tough weekend for his brother-in-law, Rory Butcher, as rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the series took place at Knockhill at the weekend.

Both drivers went into it hoping that a crowd of up to 10,000 spectators – the first allowed into the venue for the touring cars since 2019 because of COVID-19 restrictions – could roar them on to victories that would enhance their title chances.

Three-time champion 'Flash', who returned to the series this year after four years away, managed to earn eighth-, fifth- and fourth-place finishes, while Butcher, whose dad, Derek, is Knockhill's owner and CEO, placed ninth, 28th and 20th across the three races.

Although he topped the times in free practice, Shedden placed 11th in qualifying, as Butcher put his Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Corolla eighth on the grid, and both drivers enjoyed solid drives in Sunday's curtain-raiser to finish well inside the points.

Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Shedden then put his knowledge of Knockhill to good use in race two to claim fifth but there was contrasting fortunes for Butcher.

The 34-year-old had been involved in an entertaining duel with Tom Ingram, culminating in a brilliantly thought-out switchback move at the hairpin, which saw him take the initiative.

He was continuing to climb the order, and had just relieved countryman Aiden Moffat of seventh, when contact between the pair pitched the Toyota into the barriers at Duffus Dip, leaving him to begin the day’s finale from the rear of the grid in 28th place.

In race three, despite also having to run less favourable medium-compound tyres, Butcher reaffirmed his car's raw speed by posting his second-fastest lap of the season for a bonus point en-route to a top 20 finish.

At the top of the order, Shedden moved up one place to fourth, and almost bagged a podium slot after pushing Stephen Jelley all the way to the line.

The results have moved him to fourth in the standings with 129 points, 43 adrift of leader Ash Sutton, and he commented: "I couldn’t quite get to the sharp end in qualifying but I was only two-tenths off pole and that put me 11th! So it shows you how close it is around here.

"Then it was a case of grinding out the results but I’m happy to come away with an eighth, a fifth and a fourth as that brings me right back in contention in the championship.

"We usually go well at Thruxton so I’ll be hoping I can get a good points haul there as well."

Butcher, meanwhile, is 11th in the standings, 70 points off the leader, and commented: "Sometimes the dice just don’t roll your way, and Knockhill was unquestionably a missed opportunity for us, which was a real shame as the potential was clear to see.

"Qualifying was one of those sessions where you kept thinking back afterwards, ‘What could I have done better?’ It all came down to the smallest of margins, and even just something like a mis-shift was enough to drop you down the order. I didn’t quite get the most out of the car, because there was definitely a top four slot in it, and that gave us more work to do on Sunday.

"It isn’t easy to overtake at Knockhill – you’ve either got to try to force the driver ahead into a mistake or be very aggressive and really commit to the pass – and it felt like we were constantly in a see-saw battle that we couldn’t drag ourselves out of. We were finally starting to move forward in race two, and then obviously it all went horribly wrong.

"That was super-unfortunate and if it hadn’t happened, we might very well have started the last race from the front row of the grid, from where I would definitely have fancied my chances of extending my winning run at Knockhill. As it was, race three was really scrappy back in the pack, but at least we got to show what the Corolla is capable of with the fastest lap – and on the medium tyres, too.

"The car felt very different by the end of the weekend to how it had done at the start so that’s certainly a positive to take away."

The championship returns at Thruxton over the weekend of August 28-29.