'OLD SCHOOL OULTON' A FAVOURITE FOR SHEDDEN
Fresh from his best weekend so far this season, Gordon Shedden
will return to Oulton Park – scene of his maiden win
in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship –
on 24 June and hopes it’s where he’ll produce
his first victory of 2007 as well.
The Scot was in sensational form at Croft ten days ago, giving
Team Halfords’ still-developing Honda Civic its first
pole position before racing to second place in race one. He
then led race two before steering problems intervened. In
race three, he came through from near the back of the grid,
overtaking team-mate and reigning champion Matt Neal to finish
a stunning fourth.
A rotten opening three meetings mean Shedden is still down
in tenth in the championship, but at least he will again go
into Oulton’s qualifying session carrying no success
ballast in his car.
“I really enjoy Oulton,” said Shedden. “It’s
one of the old school type of circuits like my home track
of Knockhill in Scotland. You could never draw it from scratch
on a blank piece of paper and expect to get permission to
build it in this day and age.
“It’s got plenty of undulations and many different
kinds of corner which require a very good chassis –
similar to Croft where our car was also very strong, so I
hope we can repeat that form.
“But the BMWs and Vauxhalls probably have slightly
stronger engines so up the two hills out of the Island hairpin
and Knickerbook chicane they might be able to stretch their
legs a bit over ourselves and the SEATs. It’s going
to be very tight.
“Just look at Croft – three different cars in
the top three in qualifying covered by a tenth of a second.
Not having ballast is an advantage in qualifying and it’s
always important to be starting near the front, but at least
at Oulton there are a few more opportunities to pass. I’m
sure it’s going to be wide open.”
Shedden accedes that he’s not going to become BTCC
champion in 2007, but still remains positive about the remainder
of the season.
He added: “There’s no way I’m going to
win it. That went a long time ago. What I’m really looking
for now is a strong second half of the season. When you look
at how our car has changed since the opening rounds at Brands
Hatch it’s quite comical.
“Croft was genuinely the first time this year, I felt,
that Matt and I both had cars which we could get in and drive
hard from the off. We are still developing it and maybe our
development plan will actually overtake the others.
“What I really need is to start finishing all three
races on race day which has not happened so far and is a problem.
I’m full of confidence. I just need to turn all that
potential into points.”
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