Shedden fastest in Knockhill practice

September 4th, 2010

Gordon Shedden put his circuit knowledge to good effect by setting the pace in practice for the British Touring Car Championship round at Knockhill.

The Honda driver, who works at the track during the week, was quickest during the morning session and knocked 0.3 seconds off his best time in the afternoon to set the pace in 53.092s.

The top three positions were all filled by Hondas, but a surprising second was the Tech-Speed Integra of Paul O’Neill, despite him driving on tyres with a full race distance on them from the last round at Silverstone.

Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal, who is carrying 27kg of success ballast, was third quickest, one place ahead of championship leader Jason Plato, who has 45kg in his Chevrolet. Alex MacDowall was fifth quickest in the next of the Chevrolets, ahead of Tom Chilton’s Arena Ford.

Chilton’s team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole, who has 36kg of weight on his car, was eighth, the pair sandwiching Andrew Jordan’s Eurotech Vauxhall.

Jordan’s times in both sessions were hard-earned. The driver is suffering from a bout of food poisoning, as are a number of members of his team. An attempt to get his father Mike – a former BTCC race winner – into the car following morning practice came to nothing as series regulations state that drivers cannot be switched after the first session.

Steven Kane was the quickest of the BMW drivers in ninth in his Motorbase Performance machine, one place ahead of Rob Collard’s WSR car.

Jeff Smith, who is making his BTCC debut this weekend, was 16th quickest, only 1.7s off Shedden’s pace. His Triple 8 Vauxhall team-mate James Nash missed most of the first session when his second gear exploded on an out-lap. He ended up 12th.

John George also missed a big chunk of the morning session after his Tech-Speed Honda developed a misfire. The problem was cured once an engine wiring loom was replaced.

Pos  Driver           Car         Time     Gap

 1.  Gordon Shedden   Honda       53.092s

 2.  Paul O’Neill     Honda       53.304s  + 0.212s

 3.  Matt Neal        Honda       53.320s  + 0.228s

 4.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet   53.342s  + 0.250s

 5.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet   53.444s  + 0.352s

 6.  Tom Chilton      Ford        53.464s  + 0.372s

 7.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall    53.482s  + 0.390s

 8.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford        53.541s  + 0.449s

 9.  Steven Kane      BMW         53.605s  + 0.513s

10.  Rob Collard      BMW         53.643s  + 0.551s

11.  Mat Jackson      BMW         53.737s  + 0.645s

12.  James Nash       Vauxhall    53.917s  + 0.825s

13.  Tom Boardman     SEAT        53.926s  + 0.834s

14.  John George      Honda       54.164s  + 1.072s

15.  David Pinkney    Vauxhall    54.537s  + 1.445s

16.  Jeff Smith       Vauxhall    54.705s  + 1.613s

17.  Andy Neate       BMW         54.944s  + 1.852s

18.  Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen  55.079s  + 1.987s