Gordon Shedden has admitted that the dice didn’t roll his way in the British Touring Car Championship races at Knockhill, as the Scot picked up just three top ten finishes on home soil.
The Honda driver, whose day job is working at the Scottish circuit, could only manage 11th in qualifying, giving him an average grid position for the first race around a track where passing can be difficult.
Having only made up two positions in race one to finish in ninth, Shedden then finished in the same place in race two before being able to bolt on the soft tyres for the final race of the day.
Although he missed out on the reverse grid draw, Shedden was able to make progress through the field and finish in fourth, just missing out on a podium.
The results mean the reigning champion is now 40 points adrift of the championship lead, having been out-scored by both team-mate Matt Neal and WSR’s Sam Tordoff at the weekend.
“The dice never really rolled my way this weekend, right from qualifying,” admitted Shedden. “The first two races involved some typically tight Knockhill battling.
“The reversed grid worked against me with a couple of quick cars on soft tyres ahead. I pushed as hard as possible and the Honda Civic Type R was quick, allowing us to make decent progress at the start, but we just couldn’t keep up in a straight line which prevented us from attacking into the corners, so that was mightily frustrating.
“With Knockhill being my home track, I’d obviously hoped for more but we salvaged the best we could and we’re very much still in the hunt.
“We’ve clearly got some work to do, but we’ll head to Rockingham next with everything to play for.”