Gordon Shedden extends championship lead at Silverstone

Gordon Shedden was pleased to leave Silverstone with an extended points lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, despite the 1.64-mile circuit traditionally being a difficult track for Honda Yuasa Racing.

Shedden entered the weekend with a six point lead over Team BMR’s Jason Plato, but a trio of consistent results for the 2012 champion and some bad luck for his rivas has left Shedden with a 23 point gap going in to the Brands Hatch finale.

“It’s good, this was going to be the one that was really tough, but I think it just shows what we’re doing with the Type-R at the minute,” Shedden told TouringCarTimes. “We’ve plugged away, tried to make it run well with the ballast, it is great to extend the lead in the championship rather than haemorrhage a lot of points this weekend.”

Heading in to Brands Hatch, Shedden is full of confidence, having had success in the past around the longer Grand Prix layout, a circuit that he particularly enjoys.

“I’ve won round there for the past couple of years and it’s a challenge that everyone up and down the pitlane looks forward to,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

Team-mate Matt Neal is one of four drivers who could still mathematically overhaul Shedden at Brands Hatch, just 37 points behind, and admits that the team really needs to get its head down and chase the title, while still keeping an eye on his own position in the standings.

“We’ve really got to focus but it’ll be nice to get two Hondas up there in the top three,” said Neal to TouringCarTimes.