It might only be the month of May, but the destiny of the HiQ Teams’ Championship title might just be in the hands of the Honda Racing team, following a weekend to remember at Thruxton race circuit.
The wet and windy Hampshire track saw Honda star ‘Flash’ Gordon Shedden pick up two wins for his Worcestershire based outfit, helping to forge a healthy lead over Redstone Racing in the process ahead of the next instalment of BTCC action at Oulton Park in June.
A gap of 63 points has already been opened up between the two teams, although it is still way too early for Honda to get too carried away, with so many highs and lows in any one race weekend.
Redstone Racing’s Mat Jackson picked up a win himself to underline his wet racing prowess and keep Dave Bartrum’s team in the hunt.
In the drivers’ championship, Oxford’s Jason Plato continues to lead the points table but only just from new second-placed man Shedden.
Staffordshire’s Andrew Jordan had headed Saturday’s qualifying session to line up on pole position for the first of today’s races. But it all went wrong for the Pirtek Racing driver at the first bend as his Honda Civic tangled with Plato’s MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 and crashed.
This left the way clear for Jackson to reel off his second win of the season in his Redstone Racing Ford Focus ahead of Inverness’s Dave Newsham in his Team ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra and Plato. Newsham’s second place was the best of his career so far.
Having started from lowly 18th and 19th spots after a disastrous qualifying session, Shedden and team-mate Matt Neal, the reigning Champion, were sixth and tenth.
Shedden was unstoppable in race two as he quickly made up positions to pass Jackson for the lead and a comfortable win. Plato took second ahead of Jackson in third. Neal was fifth. In race three Shedden and Neal then simply romped clear of the opposition to give Honda a dream 1-2 result.
Third, adding to earlier fifth and fourth place results, was the impressive Frank Wrathall in his Dynojet Toyota Avensis. Plato was fourth.
As a result, Plato leaves Thruxton holding a four-point lead from the charging Shedden. Next up are Neal, Jackson and Hampshire’s Robert Collard who, on his home track, took a fourth and two seventh places in his eBay Motors BMW.
Plato said: “We’ve had zero running in the wet before with the MG so to take away a big points haul on a rainy day is very pleasing. We’ve got a big test programme planned between now and Oulton which should really enable us to make big gains with the car.”
Dalgety Bay’s Shedden, who also set the fastest lap in all three races at Thruxton, added: “Two wins at Donington a fortnight ago and another two wins at Thruxton. it’s been a mega weekend, even if qualifying didn’t go our way. The Civic’s chassis really came into its own today in the wet and round the fast corners but it’s still early days.”
2012 Dunlop BTCC Drivers’ Points after Thruxton (round 3 of 10):
1. Jason Plato, 129 points
2. Gordon Shedden, 125
3. Matt Neal, 115
4. Mat Jackson, 107
5. Robert Collard, 103
6. Andrew Jordan, 94
HiQ Teams’ Points:
1. Honda Yuasa Racing
Team, 230
2. Redstone Racing, 167
3. Pirtek Racing, 161
4. eBay Motors, 160
5. MG KX Momentum Racing, 140
6. Team ES Racing.com, 84