Shedden starts on front rowposted in BTCC19 | 04 | 2014
FIFER GORDON SHEDDEN will start the opening race of tomorrow's British Touring Car Championship at Donington from the front row of the grid.
The 35-year-old former champ from Dalgety Bay finished today's 30min qualifying session just 0.131secs behind the MG of polesitter Jason Plato.
"I've got to be happy with that," Shedden, just seven points off the championship lead after the opening three races at Brands Hatch, admitted after clambering out of his Honda Civic Tourer.
Related: John Cleland wins Super Touring opener
"I'm carrying 18kgs of success ballast, so we were up against it a bit today, but the Honda showed it has true pace and we managed to find a really good balance with the car, considering we were carrying the extra weight."
Plato's fastest lap of 1min 09.460s was 0.236s quicker than that of his MG team-mate, Sam Tordoff, who lines up third, alongside the BMW of former Knockhill race instructor Colin Turkington in fourth.
Shedden's Honda team-mate, triple champ Matt Neal, could only manage ninth, though he was carrying an extra 36kg of ballast.
Defending champ Andrew Jordan, who leads Neal by two points at the head of the championship, lines up in seventh place.
Related: Podium start for Gordon Shedden at Brands
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Jim McGill