Fifer Gordon Shedden will start from the front row of the grid for the opening race of tomorrow’s British Touring Car Championship triple-header at Croft, near Darlington. The 31-year-old missed out on pole position at the North Yorkshire track by just 0.077secs.
“Of course it would have been nice to have qualified on pole position,” the Dalgety Bay racer said after parking his Team Honda Civic, “but I can’t hang it out any more than this. The time we did is fantastic, but when you’re 3-4mph down on the Focuses on a circuit with so many long straights, it’s very difficult.
“But we’re racy this weekend and hopefully we can finally bag our first win of the year. The car’s certainly fast enough. I’ve a good track record here, so hopefully I can finally get that little bit of luck I haven’t had so far this year.
“Croft is such a tight circuit, it’s very difficult to pass. That makes it imperative I get a good start and lead out of the first corner. I’m confident if I can do that, I’ll be able to hold on and win the race.”
Second-fastest Shedden, whose team-mate and double champ Matt Neal could only manage fifth-quickest, starts alongside the Ford Focus of polesitter Tom Chilton who topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1min 24.629secs on the 2.1-mile circuit.
Former champ Jason Plato, eight points behind Neal in the race for the championship, starts sixth in his Chevrolet.
At the same circuit, Dundee-born racer Lewis Williamson will start second on the grid in the latest round of the British Formula Renault Championship. The 20-year-old Golspie-based driver lines up alongside polesitter and Manor Motorsport team-mate, Thomas Hylkema.
Aberdeen 19-year-old Glynn Geddie qualified fifth for the opening Porsche Carrera Cup race despite being just 0.606s slower than the 1:22.191s of polesitter and former champ Tim Harvey.
JM