MEDIA RELEASE: Honda Yuasa Racing duo Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal are targeting a return to the podium as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads north of the border to Knockhill, Fife next weekend (22/23 August).
Moving on from what was a challenging previous round at Snetterton, both drivers are eager to come back fighting at Knockhill and head into the weekend confident that the Honda Civic Type R will put in a strong performance around what is described as a ‘roller-coaster’ circuit.
Shedden and Neal – currently 3rd and 6th in the championship respectively – are ready to take full advantage of starting the weekend with reduced success ballast, with the former racing in front of a passionate home crowd while the latter takes on a circuit he won at in 2014.
Gordon Shedden: “I think Snetterton was the worst accumulative score Matt and I have ever had at a race weekend! But that round is done and dusted, there’s nothing that we can do about it other than come out fighting at Knockhill.
“I always look forward to racing north of the border. It’s awesome to race at my home circuit, especially in front of a home crowd – the Scottish love their motor sport and it’s great to be part of that.
“In terms of the circuit, Knockhill is everything that the BTCC is about – a ‘real roller-coaster’. It’s aggressive and always produces spectacular racing.
“Qualifying is going to be really tight but every cloud has a silver lining and we head into the weekend with slightly less success ballast – we are definitely going to use that to our advantage.”
Matt Neal: “Snetterton’s result is what it is and we have to look forward. We have a great car under us and going into the weekend with significantly less success ballast, we should put in a good performance.
“Knockhill is very much a rear-wheel-drive circuit and given the strength of the Type R, I’m hopeful that we will be up there with the rest of the real-wheel-drive cars.
“I like Knockhill as a circuit – it’s completely different to everywhere else we visit in the series. We all know that the track breeds very intense racing and for sure qualifying will be extremely close so we can’t afford to make any mistakes.
“However, the Type R is our potent weapon and having the weight off, we should be somewhere at the sharp end of the pack. Our target as a team is to get some solid points on the board for both ‘Flash’ and I.”
