Points make prizes for Honda’s Gordon Shedden

Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden joked that he was happy with a “not particularly inspiring” weekend at Oulton Park, after a trio of top six finishes kept him firmly in the championship hunt.

Shedden secured a sixth, second and a fourth in the three races in Cheshire on Sunday, and trails Team BMR’s Jason Plato by three points heading into Croft.

Along with the likes of team-mate Matt Neal, Plato and Triple Eight Racing’s Andrew Jordan, Shedden is demonstrating how crucial consistency is to a title tilt under the 2015 regulations.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Shedden said: “With max ballast to go fifth on the grid in qualifying was really good, and to be able to do the laptime on the soft tyre [in the first race] was fantastic.

“It’s been a good weekend, it just doesn’t feel particularly inspiring at the minute! I mean that in a jovial way.

“The car was good in race two, but you just can’t go anywhere around here. It’s the nature of the circuit. We tried something a bit wacky [on the setup], but it was difficult to stretch your legs.”

Looking at the championship situation, Shedden added: “OK, some people have had a great weekend – Jason’s had a great weekend, Matt’s had a good one – but Turks hasn’t had a stormer by any stretch of the imagination.

“With the way the ballast is, and the tyre choices, it will ebb and flow quite a lot as the year goes on – so I’m not going to stress about it at the minute.”

Shedden’s Civic has been strong in its various guises around Croft in the past, leaving the Scot upbeat about his chances at the final meeting before the summer break.

“The Civics have been good around there in the past. We’ve got to do our homework and try and come out of the blocks on fire to get some good results,” said Shedden.