![Gordon Shedden, Toyota Gazoo Racing with IAA [Speedworks Motorsport], Toyota Corolla GR Sport NGTC](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Gordon-Shedden-Toyota-Corolla.jpg "Photo: Pat Cranham")
Toyota’s Gordon Shedden enjoyed a ‘mega result’ in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone, putting his Corolla on the front row of the grid alongside Daryl DeLeon.
Shedden, who had yet to make it into the final ‘Quick Six’ part of a BTCC qualifying session before, had earlier been fourth in his group in Q1, before squeezing through into the final part of qualifying with sixth in Q2.
The session had until that point been affected by passing light rain showers. But when conditions became wetter in Q3, Shedden was able to get the right tyre onto his car at the right time to post the second fastest lap, just 0.038 seconds adrift of WSR’s DeLeon.
The Scot was delighted to score his best qualifying result since Donington Park in October 2021, and hopes changes made overnight will enhance his chances of a strong set of results on raceday.
“It’s a mega result,” said Shedden to TouringCars.Net. “Normally qualifying isn’t my forte, but something’s generally come back to us a bit, so it’s really nice to make it into Q3.
“I don’t think I’ve been out in Q3 this year, just the way its fallen, so it’s a different Saturday evening.
“I’m conscious of the fact the points are tomorrow and not today. We’ll have a look at the data and try and tweak the car to make it as good as we can for tomorrow.”
Shedden admitted that qualifying was all about having the right tyre on the car at just the right moment to match the changing conditions.
“The whole qualifying session was tricky. It was difficult to manage, but I think we had good pace in the dry so its not just like we’ve lucked into a tyre choice result.
“It was really weird because there wasn’t a lot of water on the ground. I was conscious of it in Q1 and Q2 and the rain had been blowing through and disappearing.
“I thought ‘you could end up being on the wrong tyre twice’, so I elected to just go on the slick and see if it would stop raining but do a lap time on it.
“Then it was like somebody just flicked a switch and there was no performance on the slicks. We had to pit for the wets. One or two laps on the wets was all I got at the end, but it was OK.
“It’s nice to start with a bit of a clear view ahead. It makes a change!”