Honda’s Gordon Shedden won his third British Touring Car Championship crown in front of a record crowd at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

The Scotsman, 37, beat BMW driver Sam Tordoff in a dramatic finale to score back-to-back titles by a mere two points.

Shedden’s triumph – which was watched by a record crowd of 45,000 at the West Kingsdown venue – made him the first driver in eight years to win consecutive championships.

He said: “It just goes to show that every single point really does count in this championship.

“Winning the championship for the first time felt phenomenal, last year was a real rollercoaster ride and this year it was just a huge release of emotion.

“Sam has driven well all year. I’ve enjoyed clean racing all season, and even in that last race he was very fair. His time will come – and it won’t be far away.”

Shedden entered the weekend 11 points shy of Tordoff, but managed to out-qualify his rival on Saturday before passing the Yorkshireman on lap seven of the reverse grid finale to claim the title by two points.

Tordoff said: “It was obviously a shame not to win the title after leading for so long, but we gave it our all and didn’t do anything wrong.

“I don’t think we had a bad day today at all – we scored three strong results, but Gordon had a better one and ultimately the best man won.

“Still, looking at the season overall, we have stepped up to the next level and firmly established ourselves as championship contenders.”

Subaru’s Colin Turkington dominated the first two races on the 2.4-mile Grand Prix loop, before Mat Jackson led from lights-to-flag in race three.

The 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season will start at Brands Hatch on April 1-2.