Shedden swaps Honda for Ferrariposted in GT23 | 09 | 2011
FIFER GORDON SHEDDEN, current leader in the British Touring Car Championship, swaps his Honda for a Ferrari this weekend to compete in the British GT Championship at Donington Park.
The 32-year-old from Dalgety Bay joins the Rosso Verde team for the longest race of the season, partnering Hector Lester at the wheel of a new Ferrari 458 Italia.
Shedden (pictured) will be deputising for Lester’s regular team-mate — Allan Simonsen, who is racing elsewhere — in the three-hour race.
It will be Gordon’s maiden appearance in British GT, but not his first sports car outing: he was one of the CRS Racing team which finished fourth in the GT2 class of the Spa 24 Hours in 2008.
As well as bringing in a new driver for the weekend, Rosso Verde will debut a new car, replacing the Ferrari 430 Scuderia it has campaigned so far with a 458.
“It’s a bit of a Scottish/Irish thing,” Shedden explained. “John Buchan, who runs the Rosso Verde car, is from Edinburgh and I’ve shaken down their 430 Scuderia a few times over the last year or so.
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"When Allan Simonsen was unavailable, Hector picked up the phone and asked if I fancied it and I thought ‘Why not?’
“It’s a new challenge for me. I did the Spa 24 Hours, so I'm not totally new to Ferraris, but this is a new car and it should be fun.
"It’s a fair while since my last GT outing, but a racing car is a racing car with four wheels and an engine, so we’ll see how we go.
"There is no pressure, and there are no expectations, as the car is completely new and won’t have turned a wheel before we get to Donington.
"There is a lot stacked against us but if we get our heads down and get the set-up right, hopefully we can have a good run in the race.”
Father and son pairing, Aberdeen's Jim and Glynn Geddie, head the championship heading in to Donington but are still seeking their first race win in their Ferrari 458 Italia; their team-mates in the Leicestershire-based CRS Racing squad, Alex Mortimer and Andrew Tate, led them home for a 1-2 at Rockingham earlier in September.
A field of 18 GT3 cars, including the Aston Martin of Kirkcaldy's Jonny Adam, is expected. The Fifer, partnered by Beechdean boss Andrew Howard, scored their debut win last time out.
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Jim McGill