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Shedden tops Donington practice

Gordon Shedden set the pace in free practice for the latest round of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park

After going third quickest in the morning session, the Honda driver upped his pace by 0.7 seconds during the afternoon as he went quickest in 1m11.341s.

Morning pace-setter Jason Plato, who is carrying 45kg of success ballast in his championship-leading Chevrolet, twice knocked Shedden off the top spot later on.

Shedden, whose car has 18kg of success ballast, was equal to his challenge each time though and wound up 0.223s quicker than his rival.

The other two title contenders, Tom Onslow-Cole (Arena Ford) and Matt Neal (Honda), were third and fourth quickest. Onslow-Cole recovered from going only 12th in the opening session to third later on, although he was almost half a second off the pace.

While Shedden and Plato were comfortably quicker than anybody else, the gap between Onslow-Cole and 14th placed James Kaye - making his BTCC return after four years away - was less than a second.

Tom Chilton (Arena Ford), Alex MacDowall (Chevrolet) were fifth and sixth while Mat Jackson - second in the morning session - was seventh overall in what was an unusually bright practice overall for the Motorbase BMW squad.

Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Vauxhall), Steven Kane (Motorbase BMW) and James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall) completed the top 10.

Rob Collard wound up down in 13th after missing most of the afternoon session when a vibration was detected on his WSR BMW. Shaun Hollamby missed most of that session too when a problem developed with the engine manifold of his AmD Milltek Volkswagen.

The morning session was interrupted by a red flag to retrieve the Tech-Speed Honda of John George, which stopped on the circuit.

Martin Depper had been out on track for just half a lap in the morning session when his Forster BMW dropped a cylinder and came to a halt. He will take no further part in the weekend's activities.

Combined practice times:

Pos  Driver           Car         Time       Gap
 1.  Gordon Shedden   Honda       1m11.341s
 2.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet   1m11.564s  + 0.223s
 3.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford        1m11.799s  + 0.458s
 4.  Matt Neal        Honda       1m11.820s  + 0.479s
 5.  Tom Chilton      Ford        1m11.911s  + 0.570s
 6.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet   1m11.922s  + 0.581s
 7.  Mat Jackson      BMW         1m11.977s  + 0.636s
 8.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall    1m11.979s  + 0.638s
 9.  Steven Kane      BMW         1m12.040s  + 0.699s
10.  James Nash       Vauxhall    1m12.208s  + 0.867s
11.  Tom Boardman     SEAT        1m12.377s  + 1.036s
12.  Paul O'Neill     Honda       1m12.472s  + 1.131s
13.  Rob Collard      BMW         1m12.556s  + 1.215s
14.  James Kaye       Honda       1m12.712s  + 1.371s
15.  John George      Honda       1m13.039s  + 1.698s
16.  David Pinkney    Vauxhall    1m13.244s  + 1.903s
17.  Andy Neate       BMW         1m13.266s  + 1.925s
18.  Lea Wood         Honda       1m13.538s  + 2.197s
19.  Martin Johnson   Vauxhall    1m13.891s  + 2.550s
20.  Arthur Forster   BMW         1m14.068s  + 2.723s
21.  Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen  1m14.468s  + 3.173s
22.  Martin Depper    BMW         No Time

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