It was a pretty successful weekend for Honda Yuasa Racing and Gordon Shedden, one of the drivers of its Civic Tourers, in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). While Honda stayed at the top of the standings for manufacturers, Shedden is still in the lead for the driver’s title.
This weekend saw the BTCC coming to Cheshire to race at Oulton Park. Here, Shedden managed to achieve a hat trick of top five finishes. It was also the sixth time in this year’s campaign when he was managed to make it to the podium.
In the first race he managed to achieve fourth place, following by fifth in race two and then in the final race he got second place. This put him in third overall.
The entire race was fairly disjointed as conditions were not their best this weekend and there were a number of interruptions from the red flag, which meant that drivers were unable to gain a solid rhythm.
Early on in the first race, Shedden was able to slot himself into fourth place and maintain his performance throughout so that he was in the same position as he passed the chequered flag.
In the second race, there was a three-way struggle for the podium position which eventually saw Shedden taking fifth place.
When it came to the final race, Shedden managed to push upwards through the rankings and gave chase to the leader, sitting only half a second behind. However, he settled for runner up position in the end due to an increasing number of mistakes occurring on the track and grip pushed to its limit.
Speaking about the results and his performance, Shedden said: “Of course, you’re always targeting pole positions, fastest laps and wins, but to come away from Oulton with a fourth, a fifth and a second was a really strong result.
“I don’t think anybody could have forecast how little overtaking there would be in the races. The nature of the circuit layout meant there was just nowhere to go in races one and two, which was hugely frustrating – so in hindsight, qualifying turned out to be absolutely vital. Fortunately, I was on the track at the right time with the right tyre strategy and in the right weather conditions.”
Shedden said that one of the key parts of the most challenging weekends is to make up the best score that you can, which is what he was able to do taking into account the amount of fast cars that were on the track, including his team’s two Civic Tourers.
He praised the car, saying that it felt great to drive and said that he honestly believed that his team managed to achieve the best result that they could.
However, his teammate Matt Neal was not as lucky this weekend as he finished 14th and then 12th. He was unable to finish the final race as he was caught in an accident on the first turn. This puts him in sixth place in the overall driver’s standings, giving him plenty to make up for when the BTCC goes to Croft at the end of June.
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