Gordon Shedden prepared for tough Snetterton weekend

Gordon Shedden says he is prepared for a difficult weekend at Snetterton as he seeks to defend his position at the head of the BTCC standings.

The Honda driver leads Rob Collard by eleven points going into the sixth meeting of the campaign; in stark contrast to last season when a poor opening half of the year left him down in ninth spot at the half-way stage.

Although he admits that he prefers to have the extra points onboard this time around, the Scot will now be forced to carry maximum ballast around the longest circuit on the calendar during qualifying and race one – something he insisted would make the weekend tough.

“I’m certainly going to Snetterton in a much better position than I did last year, when I was a long way behind in the standings,” he said. “The flipside to that, obviously, is having to carry maximum ballast and that could mean we are in for a tough couple of meetings over the next few weeks, but as I always say, I’ll take the points in the bag any day.

“Qualifying and race one at Snetterton are likely to be difficult with the weight so it will probably be a question of playing the long game again, but the Civic Type R was quick there last year and Matt reported positive feedback from the tyre test earlier this month too, which is encouraging.”

Shedden added that he would simply focus on his own job during the weekend ahead and was eager to simply put as many points on the board as possible.

“The BTCC is so unpredictable and there are a lot of fast cars out there, and we all know how quickly things can change in this championship,” he said. “We just need to focus on our own job and make the best of every single opportunity – anything else, we can’t worry about.”