Local hero Gordon Shedden says that his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Knockhill was anything but smooth, but expects Honda to be in the hunt for wins in Scotland.
Shedden was one of those to be caught out by a pair of stoppages during the 30-minute session on Saturday, the second ironically following an off for his Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate, Matt Neal.
Combined with spots of threatening rain and traffic encountered on flying laps, the Scot admitted afterwards that his session was anything but smooth on his way to qualifying fifth on the grid.
“The session just wasn’t very smooth”, said Shedden after qualifying, the 2012 BTCC champion having topped the free practice sessions in the morning.
“There was rain at the wrong times, traffic at the wrong times, but that’s the nature of the circuit, it all has to fall into place for you to nail the lap.
“It didn’t quite work out for me, but the time was still strong and the car is in a good place and I know I can race from where we are.”
The session was ultimately topped by the West Surrey Racing pairing of Andy Priaulx and Sam Tordoff, but Shedden said that Honda have the pace in the Civic Type-R to challenge BMW at a Knockhill circuit that has proven friendly to the latter in recent years.
Shedden added: “We knew the BMWs would go well, but we’ll go racing tomorrow and see what happens. It was a difficult one for Jason Plato, but after Snetterton, I know where he’s coming from!”
