Honda Yuasa Racing drivers Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal say they expect the Donington Park circuit to suit their Honda Civic Tourer more, as the British Touring Car Championship heads to the East Midlands circuit.
Honda’s Shedden and Neal scored three podiums between them on the car’s début at Brands Hatch, and the Team Dynamics duo believe they can go even better at Donington Park, where the team have taken at least one victory every year since 2009, amassing 14 of Dynamics’ 88 total victories in the BTCC.
“The nature of Donington Park and its corners should hopefully suit the Civic Tourer a little bit better than Brands Indy,” said Shedden, who is currently fourth in the championship. “It’s one of my favourite circuits – quick and flowing, with good undulation. It’s a real old-school track, and one that Honda has performed pretty well at over the past few years – so long may that continue.”
Shedden added that qualifying could again be crucial in deciding the outcome of the weekend. At the previous meeting at Brands Hatch there were 23 cars covered by less than a second. Although the Donington Park lap time will likely mean fewer cars within such a time, Shedden is still cautious regarding the risk of a bad qualifying session.
“There’s no reason to think qualifying won’t be every bit as close as it was at Brands Hatch,” added Shedden. “You could easily find yourself back on the sixth row of the grid rather than the front row without doing very much wrong – but I’m confident we will be up at the sharp end again.”
Scot Shedden left Brands Hatch with 40 points – his best season-opening race meeting since 2011 – and is therefore feeling more confident than ever about the remainder of the season.
“The key for us at Brands Hatch was to get some solid points on the board, especially given my previous record there,” admitted Shedden. “Last year, I left 37 points off the lead of the championship, and the year before, I had been more than 40 points adrift. This year is the closest I’ve ever been to the top of the table after the opening round, which bodes well for the rest of the season.”
Shedden’s long-time team-mate Neal admits that the team are still learning the car and honing the set-up to suit both driver’s individual preferences.
“We’re still learning the car, of course, and it has taken some adjustment to my driving style, too, as there are a few little tricky things where the Civic Tourer behaves differently from the hatchback,” added Neal. “It certainly keeps you on your toes, but it was a really great first weekend and the car will only get better.”
Team Manager Peter Crolla explains how the flowing nature of the Donington circuit should suit the Civic with it’s longer corners and less tight circuit layout.
“Right from our initial laps with the Civic Tourer, it has always been well-suited to long, fast corners, and we think Donington could be the first circuit we go to this year where we will really be able to exploit that,” said Crolla. “From pre-season testing, we would like to think we’ve established a reasonable set-up going into the weekend, and we will be ready for whatever comes our way.
“We are feeling positive ahead of Donington and hopeful of enjoying a good run. We are keen to carry our momentum on, and in that vein, we will be adopting exactly the same approach of targeting consistent points scores in every race.”