Gordon Shedden ends Barcelona test on top
Gordon Shedden ended Münnich Motorsport’s hold on top spot in official pre-season testing for the new World Touring Car Cup season after topping the times on the final afternoon of running in Barcelona.
The Honda team had topped each of the previous three sessions thanks to Néstor Girolami and Esteban Guerrieri, but WRT driver Shedden moved to the front by setting the quickest time on Friday afternoon.
A lap of 1:54.434s was easily his best of the week and allowed the Scot to edge Girolami out of top spot by just 0.074secs – with his lap also the best seen overall across four sessions of on-track running.
Shedden’s team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay was third fastest on the final afternoon, albeit with a best time four-tenths of a second slower. That was still the quickest lap of the week for the Frenchman who would end up fourth on the combined times behind Guerrieri, who was one of a number of drivers not to set a time in the final session.
Behind the top three on Friday afternoon, Team Mulsanne pairing Ma Qing Hua and Kevin Ceccon continued to put more miles on the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce in fourth and fifth, with the top six rounded out by series newcomer Daniel Haglof who secured the quickest lap of the week amongst the Cupra drivers for PWR Racing.
The Lynk & Co 03 TCRs of Yann Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller followed in seventh and eighth, with Gabriele Tarquini rounding out the top ten as he turned laps in two of the BRC Racing Hyundais – making up for the fact that Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg are both missing because of commitments elsewhere.
With the pre-season test at an end, the series now heads to Morocco for the season opener next weekend.
