Gordon Shedden expects success ballast to challenge him this weekend at Donington Park as he looks to retain the British Touring Car Championship lead.
Shedden, a race-winner last time out at Brands Hatch, will carry the mandated 75 kilograms of weight on board the Honda Civic Type-R during qualifying and the first race on Sunday.
With Donington Park characterized by its change in gradient and straightline sections, carrying the extra weight is expected to detract from performance even more than on other circuits.
“The championship lead obviously comes with its own challenge in the form of a 75kg handicap going into qualifying, but it’s clear that the advantage is going to ebb-and-flow throughout the season – and as I’ve always said, I’ll take points in the bag every day of the week and then deal with the rest of it later,” said Shedden.
“We saw at Brands Hatch how close it is in qualifying and how competitive the BTCC is going to be this year, so there’s no question that Donington will be tough for me on Saturday and early doors Sunday with so many fast, light cars in the field – just look at Matt, who suffered last time out but will be back firing on all cylinders at his home circuit – but that’s just the price you pay for having a strong previous weekend.”
The three-time BTCC champion is, however, taking solace from the performance of the Type-R under the influence of ballast at Brands Hatch.
“I’ll need to be absolutely on top of my game from the outset, but on the positive side, the Civic Type R was mega with all the weight on-board in race two at Brands, and to finish seventh in race three on maximum ballast and the soft tyres was almost as good as a win, so hopefully we can minimise the damage in qualifying and race one and then go from there.
“The goal is to leave still leading the championship – although quite how I do that, I haven’t figured out yet!”