Shedden leads Oulton practice one

Shedden set a time of 1m27.558s, around 0.2 seconds slower than Tom Onslow-Cole's pole last year and his own 2010 qualifying best, in the first half of the session. He then had a longer run, his times eventually falling to nearly 2.5s off his quickest effort.

Team-mate Matt Neal, running the full 45kg of ballast, was second with 1m27.944s in his turbo Civic.

The normally aspirated works Chevrolet Cruzes were next, benefiting from their recent 25kg weight break and the twisty nature of the circuit. Reigning champion Jason Plato was third, team-mate Alex MacDowall fourth, but they were 0.8s behind Shedden.

Eurotech/Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan was again competitive in his Vauxhall Vectra in fifth, just ahead of Rob Collard. The WSR BMW driver, running with his own 10kg weight break and free first gear, set a best of 1m28.526s.

Andy Neate showed improved form, lapping within 0.1s of Arena Motorsport Ford Focus team-mate Tom Chilton, to end up 10th.

On his first race weekend session with the Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon, Dave Newsham was 13th, 0.2s and two places behind team-mate Tom Boardman.

Series returnee Lea Wood gradually improved his pace throughout the session, eventually recording a 1m31.261s (21st) with his Team Wood Racing Honda Integra-R.

Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                 1m27.558s
 2.  Matt Neal        Honda                 1m27.944s  + 0.386s
 3.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet             1m28.406s  + 0.848s
 4.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet             1m28.445s  + 0.887s
 5.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall     1m28.471s  + 0.913s
 6.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW               1m28.526s  + 0.968s
 7.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford        1m28.549s  + 0.991s
 8.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford            1m28.875s  + 1.317s
 9.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m28.930s  + 1.372s
10.  Andy Neate       Arena Ford            1m28.967s  + 1.409s
11.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT   1m29.110s  + 1.552s
12.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m29.345s  + 1.787s
13.  Dave Newsham     Special Tuning SEAT   1m29.348s  + 1.790s
14.  Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m29.443s  + 1.885s
15.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall     1m29.535s  + 1.977s
16.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW               1m29.642s  + 2.084s
17.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford        1m29.726s  + 2.168s
18.  Tom Onslow-Cole  AmD Volkswagen        1m30.281s  + 2.723s
19.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m30.399s  + 2.841s
20.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi           1m31.140s  + 3.582s
21.  Lea Wood         Central Honda         1m31.261s  + 3.703s
22.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota        1m32.209s  + 4.651s
23.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota     1m32.407s  + 4.849s
24.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet          1m32.807s  + 5.249s