Having finished behind Mat Jackson in the opening race of the day, the Scot took victory in the second and then thought he had to settle for third in the final race of the day, with Jackson winning again.

However, Jackson was then excluded from the race for a technical infringement, with officials claiming his Racing Redstone Ford Focus ST had exceeded the permitted turbo boost limits.

With second-placed Jason Plato also punished with a two-second penalty for a collision with Shedden, the Edinburgh driver vaulted to the top of the podium, with Plato second and Tony Gilham third.

Unacceptable

Because of the late drama, Plato leads the championship on 84 points, with Matt Neal four behind, Andrew Jordan third, Robert Collard fourth, Shedden fifth and Jackson sixth.

Shedden no doubt felt vindicated to have earned the win, having initially let rip at Plato, telling the BTCC official website: "What Jason has done is unacceptable.

"I don't know how he thinks he can talk his way out of shovelling someone off the track unless it's in the rules, which I don't believe it is."

Plato himself was more relaxed about the incident, saying: "The race was great fun. I was passing cars left, right and centre but then Gordon...he just drove extremely defensively and was jumping on the brakes in places where you don't brake."

It capped a bad day for Plato, who crashed out in the second race after crunching into the barriers following a collision with Collard. He tried to continue through a number of pit stops, but eventually waved the white flag.

Neal finished second to Shedden in the second race with Jackson third, while he also finished third to the duo in the opener.