Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal both stood on the podium in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Thruxton, with Neal declaring that it’s “game on” in the title battle despite failing to finish race two.
Both Honda drivers were on strong form throughout the Thruxton weekend, with Shedden and Neal qualifying in second and third respectively in qualifying on Saturday.
From there, the duo went on to record a 1-2 finish in the opening race, after dispatching pole man Árón Smith when the lights went out at the start of the race.
Shedden went on to record another podium finish in race two, finishing third despite carrying 75 kg of success ballast in the race. As a result of leading the championship by eight points, the Scot will also carry the same amount of ballast into Oulton Park qualifying in one months’ time.
“We did a cracking job in qualifying, and that set us up nicely for Sunday,” said Shedden. “The car was perfectly-balanced in race trim, even with the weight on-board, and in the first one I used the strengths of the Civic Type R to pull away.
“To get a podium with maximum ballast in race two was awesome – we were really chuffed with that – and to then conclude the weekend with more solid points in race three was a real bonus. As championship leader, I’ll go to Oulton with a whole load of weight in the car, but we’ll worry about that in a little while…”
Neal finished behind Shedden in race one, but in race two tangled with Smith which forced him into retirement with broken left-front suspension. He did, however, claim a point for the fastest lap of the race before the incident on lap eight.
“To put both cars inside the top three in qualifying definitely exceeded our expectations,” said Neal. “In race one, I tried to get a quick lap in early on and then look after my tyres given that I was carrying maximum ballast.
“The incident in race two was just unfortunate; Árón braked a lot earlier than usual and I tried to avoid him but he turned in, which broke my suspension. The boys did a terrific job to get the car repaired for race three, which was fun but frustrating at the same time.
“It was enjoyable fighting my way through, but I was constantly tucked up behind other drivers, so I couldn’t exploit the Civic Type R’s full potential. Still, both ‘Flash’ and I are very strongly placed in the championship, so it’s game on!”
Team Principal James Rodgers was pleased to have put in such a strong performance at Swindon-based Honda UK’s home circuit, with the team having anticipated their set-up around the success ballast.
“Honda Civics have always gone well at Thruxton, and after qualifying, we set the cars up to manage the ballast situation in race one,” summarised Rodgers. “To come out of it with our first one-two of the year at Honda’s home track was a dream result and means we’ve won at every circuit so far this season.
“Flash [Shedden] performed brilliantly to secure a podium whilst carrying maximum weight in race two, and Matt’s drive in race three was arguably the performance of the weekend. The Civic Type R just keeps on getting better, and I know we say it every time, but there is plenty more still to come.”