Shedden targets Oulton points haulposted in BTCC19 | 05 | 2017

    SCOT GORDON SHEDDEN bids to reclaim the lead in the battle for the British Touring Car Championship when he heads to Oulton Park in Cheshire this weekend.

    The 38-year-old from Auchterarder currently sits in second place in the title race, 17 points behind the Toyota of Tom Ingram, after bagging two podiums last time out at Thruxton.

    And Shedden, who along with Honda team-mate Matt Neal, locked-out the front row at Thruxton, is fully aware how important qualifying is at Oulton.

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    “Oulton Park is great fun to drive, but I’m fully expecting a tough weekend – probably one of our toughest, in fact,” the three-time BTCC champ said.

    “It has traditionally been a rear wheel-drive circuit because they can pull away from the hairpins quicker, but Honda cars have generally been competitive there too. We’ve scored some good results over the years and the Civic Type R is a very well-balanced piece of kit.

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    “Being so difficult to pass at Oulton, qualifying could be make-or-break so I’ll really need to dig deep to pull something special out of the bag, particularly with 66kg of ballast on-board and the stop-start nature of the lap.

    “The aim will be to make it as far up the grid as I can, although if I don’t manage to crack the top 10 — which is a real possibility — then it will come down to playing the long game.

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    “The bottom line is that we’re in a better position in the championship than we were this time last year, and without the exclusion at Donington (Shedden won the day’s final race, but was then excluded by the stewards when his car failed the ride-height test) we would be in the lead.

    “Whilst it’s obviously disappointing not to be, we tend to get stronger over the second half of the season as we get to tracks that suit us a bit more, so there’s every reason to be optimistic right now.”

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    Team-mate Neal (pictured above with Shedden), meanwhile, is hoping to build on the 60th BTCC win of his career which he claimed last time out at Thruxton.

    “Weight will definitely play more of a role than it did at Thruxton,” the three-time champ said, “so I really need to take advantage of the fact that I’m still relatively light in qualifying and race one and get in the mix.

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    “Qualifying will be critical as it’s not easy to overtake at Oulton. I’ve got to be aiming for the front two rows of the grid and then targeting the podium – and if I can come away with another win, that would be perfect.”

    Along with Shedden, fellow Scot Aiden Moffat will be hoping to repeat his win from earlier in the season behind the wheel of his Mercedes. Inverness-based Dave Newsham will also be hoping to get in the mix in his Chevrolet.

    Drivers’ Standings

    1. Tom Ingram 131 points

    2. Gordon Shedden 114

    3. Colin Turkington 112

    4. Rob Collard 103

    5. Adam Morgan 96

    6. Jack Goff 89

    7. Matt Neal 73

     

    Manufacturers’ Standings

    1. BMW 259 points

    2. Honda 225

    3. Vauxhall 188

    4. Subaru 159

    5. MG 127

     

    Teams’ Standings

     1. Team BMW 209 points

    2. Halfords Yuasa Racing 181

    3. Speedworks Motorsport 127

    4. Eurotech Racing 110

    5. Ciceley Motorsport 96

    6. Adrian Flux Subaru Racing 65

    Related: 2017 Honda Civic Type R sets new 'Ring rcord

    Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/Scotcars

    Jim McGill

     

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