Gordon Shedden believes that the success ballast on board his Honda Civic Type-R was the primary reason in his being unable to fight for pole position ahead of Round 10 of the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park tomorrow.
Shedden, who lines up fifth fastest to head up the third row of the grid alongside Jason Plato, set a fastest lap time of 1:26.343 just 0.079s slower than eventual pole-sitter, Colin Turkington, who claimed a maiden pole position for a Subaru machine in the series.
The result ensures that the works Honda outfit continues it’s unenviable run of no pole positions since the 2013 season, with Shedden’s team-mate and joint standings leader, Matt Neal, qualifying 8th with a full quota of success ballast on board.
Reflecting on another frenetic thirty minute session around the 2.2 mile Island configuration of the Cheshire circuit, Shedden pointed to those in front of him on the timesheets and deduced that ballast played a key role in the result this afternoon.
“I think the ballast affected the car a little bit everywhere around the lap; if you look at the cars in front of me on the grid, they either had no ballast on-board or are rear-wheel drive.”
The 2012 and 2015 champion also conceded that one or two errors during his qualifying runs prevented him from completing an optimum lap, but nevertheless he feels confident that he can make up some lost ground when the first race begins at 12:17, despite the circuit being notoriously difficult to overtake on.
“We possibly didn’t hook it up quite perfectly, but I think we’re in a good place. It’s difficult to overtake round here, but that’s never been for a lack of trying in the past and it won’t be tomorrow either!”