Shedden gets pole at Thruxton
Gordon Shedden followed up his maiden British Touring Car Championship victory at Oulton Park last month with his first pole position in the fourth round of the championship at Thruxton
The Scot, driving Team Dynamics' second Honda Integra-R, set his best time of 1:17.833 early in the session, and despite a determined attack from WSR's Colin Turkington, held on to take pole by 0.080 seconds.
"It was just a case of hanging it out and going for it," said Shedden of his pole lap around the ultra-fast Hampshire circuit. "We'll wait and see where we are against the Vauxhalls, SEATs and MGs come the races tomorrow, but this is a good start."
Tom Chilton was the best of the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatches in third, while championship leader Matt Neal overcame a 45kg ballast penalty, earned by dint of his first place in the championship standings, to take fourth in his Dynamics Integra.
Jason Plato took fifth for SEAT, one place ahead of new team-mate Darren Turner. The Aston Martin Le Mans ace is making his BTCC debut in place of regular driver James Thompson, and he put in a superb performance to lap just one tenth of a second slower than Plato.
Gavin Smith and Fabrizio Giovanardi were seventh and ninth for Vauxhall, sandwiching Rob Collard, who suffered a late engine failure.
Mike Jordan, driving a Eurotech-prepared ex-Matt Neal 2005-specification Integra, rounded out the top ten. The 48-year-old struggled with an air intake problem which restricted his speed.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Time Laps 1. Gordon Shedden Honda Integra 1:17.833 13 2. Colin Turkington MG ZS 1:17.913 + 0.080 12 3. Tom Chilton Vauxhall Astra Sport 1:18.052 + 0.219 8 4. Matt Neal Honda Integra 1:18.081 + 0.248 14 5. Jason Plato SEAT Leon 1:18.147 + 0.314 11 6. Darren Turner SEAT Leon 1:18.262 + 0.429 10 7. Gavin Smith Vauxhall Astra Sport 1:18.447 + 0.614 10 8. Robert Collard MG ZS 1:18.781 + 0.948 15 9. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall Astra Sport 1:18.783 + 0.950 12 10. Mike Jordan Honda Integra 1:19.325 + 1.492 19 11. David Pinkney Honda Integra 1:19.456 + 1.623 16 12. James Kaye Honda Civic Type R 1:20.038 + 2.205 14 13. Fiona Leggate Vauxhall Astra Coupe 1:20.310 + 2.477 13 14. Mark Proctor Honda Civic Type R 1:20.774 + 2.941 14 15. Jason Hughes MG ZS 1:22.473 + 4.640 17 16. Adam Jones Lexus IS200 1:23.568 + 5.735 11 17. Martyn Bell BMW 320i E46 1:24.923 + 7.090 12 18. Mark Smith Alfa Romeo 156 1:26.332 + 8.499 13
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