Gordon Shedden: “I’m not in the championship anymore”

Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden aims to make the most at Silverstone, the worst circuit for the team’s Honda Civic, after qualifying in 12th, but the triple champion has written off his championship chances after a disastrous run in recent events.

Shedden has qualified behind his two main championship rivals Colin Turkington, eighth, and Ash Sutton, tenth, though he’s 55 points behind Sutton, with 133 points remaining from the last two races.

“(The championship’s) gone,” Shedden told TouringCarTimes. “I’m not in the championship anymore, I’ve been removed from it since half-distance. We’ll give it a go tomorrow, it’s not like I’m 30th like at Rockingham.”

Although Eurotech Racing driver Jack Goff put his Civic on pole, Goff’s car is powered by the Swindon-built TOCA engine, while Shedden and team-mates Matt Neal and Matt Simpson run with the Neil Brown-developed Honda Type-R engine, which earns it a separate boost equivalency calculation from the organisers.

Shedden didn’t blame the car for its performance, saying the car handles perfectly, but just lacks top speed, after he clocked the slowest top speed at the Wellington straight of 132.6mph, 3.5mph off the pace-setting Toyota of Rob Austin and Ford of Mat Jackson.

“I’m dead last through the speed traps, and you can’t come back from that around here – that’s my limiting factor,” he added.

“The car is great, we’re working hard. We’re looking for the impossible in the car.”