Gordon Shedden expects tough race tomorrow

After a troubled opening weekend at Brands Hatch, Honda Yuasa Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden has had a better start at Donington Park, qualifying in second position for tomorrow’s race, just 0.054 seconds behind the MG of Jason Plato but expects a tough fight on race day.

The qualifying session saw rain falling just 10 minutes into the session, with the bulk of the times set before that point establishing the grid for the first race on Sunday, with Jason Plato’s Triple Eight MG6 GT on pole position ahead of the two Hondas with Shedden ahead of Neal.

“A little bit of rain probably didn’t help but I don’t think it would have changed things massively, it would have still been the same suspects there I think,” said Shedden to TouringCarTimes.

“I think that just goes to show that the extra horsepower (MG have) got out of the extra boost is making all the difference, and round here the big long drag out of the Old Hairpin, big long drag down the straight and coming out of the last chicane, that’s where they gain’s to be had.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Shedden expects it’ll be tough to overhaul the MG of Plato, even with the weight difference of 45kg in penalty ballast between the MG and the Honda.

“We’ll race hard and we’ll have a good go at it, but there’s no substitute for horsepower on a straight line and that’s where we’ve been pegged right back….the balance in the car’s very very good, it just needs to go a bit quicker in the straight.”