Gordon Shedden heads season launch test
Gordon Shedden led the way for Team Dynamics during six hours of testing in the official season launch for the 2021 British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone.
The morning session was headed by the Cupra of Jack Goff, thanks to a late lap of 57.412s that allowed him to vault to the top of the times for Team HARD. All three of Goff’s fastest laps would come on a short run prior to lunch as he finished well clear of his three team-mates, although Aron Taylor-Smith lost track time to an upright failure that caused one of three red flags.
Colin Turkington, who had led the way for more than an hour of the three hour session, ultimately had to settle for second spot with a time a tenth of a second behind Goff, with defending champion Ash Sutton going third quickest in the Infiniti Q50 of Laser Tools Racing.
Returnee Jason Plato wasted little time in getting back up to speed in the Power Maxed Astra in fourth ahead of the fastest Honda in the hands of Michael Crees, with the top six rounded out by Tom Ingram’s EXCELR8-run Hyundai.
The afternoon session saw Crees sit on top of the times for a long spell in his BTC Racing-run Civic Type R before being knocked off top spot in the closing half hour by returning former champion Shedden.
The Scot would eventually improve his benchmark time to a 57.108s to head the way, with Goff also posting a late improvement in the afternoon session to end up second on the timesheets with a lap just under two-tenths of a second slower. Crees would settle for third, a further 0.005 behind.
Ingram’s Hyundai was a late improver to finish fourth ahead of Plato’s Vauxhall, with the top six rounded out by Sutton.
Andy Neate was the busiest man on track in the afternoon as he completed 79 laps to make up for time he lost in the morning, where Jade Edwards had been the busiest driver with 75 laps to her name.
