Shedden storms into pole position – Thruxton Qualifying
Gordon Shedden made the best of wet conditions at Thruxton to take pole position for the first of tomorrow’s three races.
“That’s the hardest point I’ve ever scored,” said the scot speaking to btcc.net earlier today.
The Team Honda driver lapped the Hampshire circuit in a time of 1m 24.061 seconds, nearly three tenths faster than Fabrizio Giovanardi who left it late to claim a place on the front row of the grid. The Italian who was only confirmed in his seat yesterday, had shown good pace throughout the day’s two practice sessions but couldn’t do anything about the Scot who never looked like being displaced from pole position once he had set his time.
Matt Neal, in the second Honda, was third fastest after leading the way early on. He will be joined on the second row by Andrew Jordan whose last gasp lap propelled him ahead of title favourite Jason Plato. It was a quiet session for the Chevrolet man who never really threatened the top of the timesheets. Chevrolet’s day got even worse as Plato’s rookie team mate Alex MacDowall had his best times wiped, roughly at the mid point of the session, for reasons unknown as of yet. Only a decent late lap prevented him from starting last.
In contrast, not even the weather can dampen Gordon Shedden’s spirit as his qualifying display puts him in a strong position to take victory in the first race tomorrow and gives Honda a good chance of stealing an early march on their rival manufacturer.
| Pos | # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52 | Gordon Shedden | Honda Racing Team | 1:24.061 | |
| 2 | 888 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Triple Eight Engineering | 1:24.317 | +0.256 |
| 3 | 4 | Matt Neal | Honda Racing Team | 1:24.614 | +0.553 |
| 4 | 77 | Andrew Jordan | Pirtek Racing | 1:24.833 | +0.772 |
| 5 | 2 | Jason Plato | Silverline Chevrolet | 1:24.868 | +0.807 |
| 6 | 23 | Tom Chilton | Team Aon | 1:25.017 | +0.956 |
| 7 | 5 | Mat Jackson | Airwaves BMW | 1:25.289 | +0.1.228 |
| 8 | 21 | Tom Onslow-Cole | Team Aon | 1:25.504 | +1.443 |
| 9 | 88 | Phil Glew | Triple Eight Engineering | 1:25.563 | +1.502 |
| 10 | 29 | Paul O’Neill | Sunshine.co.uk | 1:25.832 | +1.771 |
The full qualifying results can be found here.
Photo credit: BTCC.net
All timings courtesy of tsl-timing.com
Thomas Surgay
