Gordon Shedden says that the ball still remains in Sam Tordoff‘s court as he enters the final Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch looking to defend his title.
The reigning champion entered the day 11 points adrift of Tordoff heading into the final three encounters in Kent, a deficit he closed to just two after a podium finish in the second race of the day.
Tordoff’s fifth place keeps him at the top of the standings heading into the season finale, Shedden saying that his West Surrey Racing rival still has the upper hand.
“The ball is still massively in Sam’s court”, Shedden said to media including TCF afterwards, “We’re trying though. We’re certainly not going to let it go.
Victory in the second race of the day for Colin Turkington means the Subaru Levorg driver also remains in contention, 10 points adrift of Tordoff after fending off team-mate, Jason Plato.
Asked whether it was a case of waiting for the Subaru duo ahead of him to battle in the second race of the day, Shedden said: “We did, but then Jason [Plato] obviously fell back. I was making some pretty hairy moves to try and get the job done there.
“The car was good on [soft tyres]. It was definitely the right way to play it for me, what with the extra weight on the car, so I thought it was right to go and see if it was good enough.”
The Halfords Yuasa Racing driver would be the first to successfully defend the BTCC title since Fabrizio Giovanardi back in 2008, starting race three from fifth while Tordoff and Turkington start third and seventh on the grid respectively.
“I feel dead chilled, so [Tordoff]’s got to go out there and get the job done in the last one”, Shedden said ahead of the last race. “You’ve just got to keep on going, keep trying and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough but if it’s not, it’s not.
“For the last few years there’s always been some kind of shenanigans”, Shedden added, having narrowly clinched the 2015 title by four points after a fine recovery drive from outside the top 20.
“Obviously last year it was for myself and I think Colin [Turkington] had a terrible run the year before that. At the minute, it’s in Sam’s court.”
