“Not the best day in the office” at Rockingham for Honda

Honda Racing Team had a day to forget at Rockingham as bad luck hampered their performaces, despite showing strong pace all weekend.

Gordon Shedden’s weekend started well, with the 2012 BTCC champion looking to continue his home podium at Knockhill at the previous round. Having qualified in fourth for the opening race, contact on the fourth lap at Pif-Paf damaged the steering of his Honda Civic Tourer and resulted in the Scot dropping to eighth by the time of the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, team-mate Matt Neal struggled with a fuel flow problem in the opening encounter, unable to prevent his rivals passing him and having to settle for 17th at the finish. Both drivers went on the offensive in race two after being swamped by rear-wheel drive cars on the grid, with Shedden holding on for another eighth place and Neal working his way in to 14th to take home some valuable championship points.

However, it would be the third and final race of the day where Shedden would meet the worst of his luck, colliding with Hunter Abbott on the opening lap, resulting in substantial suspension damage and Shedden’s first DNF – and non-scoring race – of the 2014 season.

“It all got a bit tight on the first lap of race three, and it was the usual situation where nobody is willing to give an inch,” said a disconsolate Shedden. “One driver came across the front of me and spun onto the grass, rejoining just in time to collect me again; someone else was then unsighted and hit me on the other side, which broke my steering and that was game over, unfortunately. Simply wrong place, wrong time.”

Matt Neal on the other hand had a much better third race, making his way through the field with the softer tyre and holding the fastest lap at one stage during the race. By the end of the race he had worked his way up to ninth, taking a handful of points home following a disappointing weekend.

“After Snetterton last month, we knew this was going to be a tough weekend,” said Neal, “but we didn’t expect it to be quite as tough as it has been. It certainly wasn’t for want of trying, but the dice just didn’t roll our way and the fuel issue that we had in race one left us on the back foot for the rest of the day.”

“It wasn’t the best day in the office,” Honda Racing technical director Barry Plowman told TouringCarTimes. “We’ve had reasonable pace in our cars all day, just a lot of it being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Something went on with Hunter Abbott (and Shedden in race three), which is always the situation round here, they arrive at turn two and turn three and there’s not always a lot of room there, and nobody wants to give an inch, so there was a bit of a coming together.

“Matt was quick in race three, he worked his socks off and only ended up with ninth place. We were as good as anybody else on the soft tyre in race three but we just never really got the opportunity to get there.

“Silverstone (the next, and penultimate, round of the season) is probably our worst nightmare to be honest, but it is what it is and we’ll go there and do our best and try to end the season at Brands on a high. The main focus – as it always has been – is the manufacturers’ title, and the battle for that is not over by any means.”