Shedden heads all-Honda front row
Date published : 04 Jun 2011 - 15:14:26
Gordon Shedden led a Honda one-two in British Touring Car qualifying at Oulton Park this afternoon.Shedden's Civic, running with 9kg of ballast, beat team-mate Matt Neal, carrying 45kg, by 0.15 seconds. They both then parked up, to watch rivals fail to match their times.Arena Motorsport's Andy Neate came closest, taking a career-best third in his Ford Focus. It is the first time he has outqualified team-mate Tom Chilton, who will line up sixth.Reigning champion Jason Plato was top normally aspirated runner in fourth with his RML-run Chevrolet Cruze. His 1m27.782s was 0.4s slower than Shedden's best.After a slow start, Andrew Jordan put in a late effort to take fifth with his Eurotech/Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra.Plato's team-mate Alex MacDowall took seventh, just ahead of the Tech-Speed Cruze of Paul O'Neill, but he ended his qualifying session in the wall at Druids after a suspected suspension failure.That, and various cars going off at Cascades due to Liam Griffin's Motorbase Ford Focus dropping oil, caused the session to be stopped a couple of minutes early.One of the victims was Griffin's team-mate Mat Jackson, who had just struggled into the top 10 with his 36kg of ballast.Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m27.355s 2. Matt Neal Honda 1m27.505s + 0.150s 3. Andy Neate Arena Ford 1m27.778s + 0.423s 4. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m27.782s + 0.427s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 1m27.914s + 0.559s 6. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m28.044s + 0.689s 7. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m28.091s + 0.736s 8. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m28.278s + 0.923s 9. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m28.319s + 0.964s10. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m28.445s + 1.090s11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 1m28.508s + 1.153s12. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m28.529s + 1.174s13. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m28.584s + 1.229s14. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m28.617s + 1.262s15. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m28.735s + 1.380s16. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 1m28.768s + 1.413s17. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m29.190s + 1.835s18. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m29.252s + 1.897s19. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m29.398s + 2.043s20. Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen 1m29.753s + 2.398s21. Lea Wood Central Honda 1m29.794s + 2.439s22. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m29.901s + 2.546s23. Chris James ES Chevrolet 1m31.014s + 3.659s24. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 1m31.605s + 4.250s
