Team Halfords On The Pace At Knockhill
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Aug 18, 2008
gordonshedden.com
Team Halfords continued to show impressive pace in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, with both drivers being amongst the quickest on track throughout the race day.
Flash battled back from a tough qualifying session, where the top ten drivers were separated by only half a second. Flash took a brace of fourth place finishes at his home circuit, while Sonic produced a solid run through the field into the top six in race three.
Gordon lies seventh in the drivers’ standings after the weekend with Tom in tenth, while Team Halfords’ continues to hold third in the teams’ title race behind the big budget manufacturer teams.
Race One:
Tom qualified in an impressive third place behind the diesel SEATs, but a six place grid penalty imposed for his incident in the final race at Oulton Park meant he lined up ninth on the grid. After a good start to the race, he climbed up two places into seventh place before coming under attack from Darren Turner on lap 14. Turner dived down the inside at Carlube corner and forced Tom to run wide across the gravel which meant he lost valuable places. He then drove a spirited recovery race to take the flag inside the top ten.
Gordon endured a tough qualifying session to start from tenth place but he was one of the stars of the race as he used the pace of the Honda Civic to storm through the pack - picking off places throughout to finish just off the podium in fourth place.
Race Two:
Tom started race two from tenth place but lost places on the opening lap when he was forced to run wide at the hairpin while trying to make up positions and dropped down to 15th. Despite lapping strongly for the remainder of the race, it became a case of damage limitation for Sonic and he recovered to finish eleventh - just outside the points.
Gordon lost a place off the line to the fast-starting BMW of Mat Jackson but battled his way back ahead with a fantastic move at Carlube on lap six. From there, he was able to drive away from his rival to bring the car home in fourth for the second successive race.
Race Three:
Starting race three from eleventh place, Tom maintained his position during the opening laps but battled hard to make progress up the order. Once again posting impressive lap times at the wheel of his Honda Civic, he came through to end the weekend with a hard fought sixth place finish.
The final race ended in disappointing fashion for Gordon, who looked well placed to at least match his results from the opening two races. Off the line he jumped up to fifth place and then took fourth when Colin Turkington ran wide on lap two at Carlube. He maintained that place through to lap 19 despite pressure from behind from Matt Neal, but when Neal was hit by Turkington, his Vauxhall made contact with Gordon’s Honda and forced him through the gravel. He continued to battle with Neal to the end and finally ended up in eighth place.
Driver Comments:
Tom Chilton:
“We should have had more points as the car was very well-prepped and I’ve shown the pace - I’ve been one of the quickest cars all weekend. The last race was my worst in terms of my feeling with the car but I got the best result coming through from eleventh to sixth; I certainly had a good seat for some incidents there! It’s a shame I had the grid penalty as without that, I think I would have been guaranteed at least two podium finishes as the car, the team and me as a package were the quickest things outside the turbo diesels. At Silverstone we’ll be quick, it’s similar to Snetterton and we were strong there so bring it on.”
Gordon Shedden:
“We took a gamble in qualifying to try and get pole but it didn’t pay off unfortunately. Two fourths was absolutely great and just what the team needed, the Honda Civic had great pace. The third race was carnage! There were people firing off all over the place, unfortunately I got tagged by Matt Neal, who has just been hit by Turkington and that dropped me down the order, but I kept fighting to the end!”
