Knockhill BTCC: Gordon Shedden puts Honda on top in practice
Local hero Gordon Shedden clocked the fastest time over the opening two free practice sessions for this weekend's British Touring Car Championship races at Knockhill
The 34-year-old put in a 52.582s lap to put his Honda more than a tenth of a second clear of the impressive Adam Morgan in the Ciceley Racing Toyota.
MG man Jason Plato left it late to record the third fastest time, ahead of the Eurotech Honda of Independent ace Andrew Jordan and Shedden's Honda team-mate Matt Neal.
All of the frontrunning drivers recorded faster lap times in the second session of the day amid more favourable conditions.
Sam Tordoff's MG6 was sixth quickest after surviving an off and a puncture during the morning running, while Tom Onslow-Cole turned heads by finishing in seventh place in the Team Hard Volkswagen.
He was the last of the drivers to beat last season's pole time at the 1.2-mile Fife track.
Frank Wrathall underlined the strong showing from Toyota to place his Dynojet Avensis in eighth place.
Rounding out the top 10 were the two Rob Austin Racing Audi A4s. Austin, who had topped the timesheets in the opening session, was the leading rear-wheel-driver runner in ninth, just 0.08s ahead of his team-mate Will Bratt.
After experimenting with different set-ups during the two sessions, former champion Colin Turkington languished in 14th in the WSR BMW.
Practice one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Rob Austin Austin Audi 53.221s 2. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 53.288s +0.067s 3. Matt Neal Honda 53.308s +0.087s 4. Jason Plato MG 53.319s +0.098s 5. Rob Collard WSR BMW 53.327s +0.106s 6. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 53.337s +0.116s 7. Nick Foster WSR BMW 53.348s +0.127s 8. Gordon Shedden Honda 53.352s +0.131s 9. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 53.417s +0.196s 10. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard Volkswagen 53.465s +0.244s 11. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 53.514s +0.293s 12. Will Bratt Austin Audi 53.710s +0.489s 13. Mike Bushell IP Tech Chevrolet 53.793s +0.572s 14. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 53.863s +0.642s 15. Sam Tordoff MG 53.905s +0.684s 16. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 53.984s +0.763s 17. Paul O'Neill Hard Vauxhall 54.033s +0.812s 18. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 54.139s +0.918s 19. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 54.274s +1.053s 20. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 54.368s +1.147s 21. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 54.879s +1.658s* 22. Warren Scott BMR Volkswagen 54.884s +1.663s 23. Kieran Gallagher Hard Vauxhall 55.264s +2.043s 24. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 55.583s +2.362s* 25. David Nye Welch Ford 55.914s +2.693s* 26. Aiden Moffat Finesse Chevrolet 56.143s +2.922s * S2000 Practice two: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Gordon Shedden Honda 52.582s 2. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 52.700s +0.118s 3. Jason Plato MG 52.842s +0.260s 4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 52.878s +0.296s 5. Matt Neal Honda 52.899s +0.317s 6. Sam Tordoff MG 52.902s +0.320s 7. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard Volkswagen 53.013s +0.431s 8. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 53.077s +0.495s 9. Rob Austin Austin Audi 53.165s +0.583s 10. Will Bratt Austin Audi 53.245s +0.663s 11. Rob Collard WSR BMW 53.285s +0.703s 12. Paul O'Neill Hard Vauxhall 53.288s +0.706s 13. Mike Bushell IP Tech Chevrolet 53.319s +0.737s 14. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 53.321s +0.739s 15. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 53.338s +0.756s 16. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 53.439s +0.857s 17. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 53.472s +0.890s 18. Nick Foster WSR BMW 53.588s +1.006s 19. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 53.784s +1.202s 20. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 54.292s +1.710s* 21. Warren Scott BMR Volkswagen 54.456s +1.874s 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 54.540s +1.958s* 23. Kieran Gallagher Hard Vauxhall 55.094s +2.512s 24. David Nye Welch Ford 55.322s +2.740s* * S2000
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