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BTCC 2013 Index

Shedden takes pole for opening race

BTCC News | Sat 3rd April 2010

Gordon Shedden has taken pole position for the opening round of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

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The Scot set a time of 1:24.061 in his Honda Racing Team Civic to top the 30-minute session – much of which took place under heavy rain. Shedden will be joined on the front row of the grid by Fabrizio Giovanardi, who was quickly on the pace, despite only completing his deal to race earlier this week.

The Triple Eight team were still working on Giovanardi's Vectra five minutes into the qualifying session, which meant that the driest conditions had already passed when he went out on track. Nonetheless, Giovanardi set a time that put him into the top five. His best lap-time was set in the closing stages of the session, splitting the two Hondas.

Matt Neal starts third on the grid, ahead of the impressive Andrew Jordan. Jason Plato could only manage fifth in the first of the Silverline Chevrolets. His teammate Alex MacDowall was sixth fastest at the halfway point in the session, but his Cruze failed the ride height test and he lost his times.

Tom Chilton starts sixth on the grid for Team Aon while Mat Jackson is the quickest of the BMW runners in seventh. Tom Onslow-Cole (Team Aon) was eighth fastest, ahead of BTCC debutant Phil Glew (Uniq Racing with Triple Eight). Paul O'Neill lines up 10th for Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed.

It's an all-BMW sixth row with Steven Kane ahead of former teammate Rob Collard. David Pinkney and Tom Boardman will start 13th and 14th, ahead of the recovering MacDowall and Martin Johnson (Boulevard Team Racing). Andy Neate (WSR) lines up 17th on the grid, just in front of Shaun Hollamby in the AmD Milltek Racing VW Golf. Matt Hamilton (TH Motorsport) and John George (Sunshine.co.uk) will fill the last row of the grid.

Following the session, Gordon Shedden said: "It looked like it would rain really heavily so we thought we would try and get a quick lap in early on in the session. I was a bit nervous for the last few minutes as people went out, but it's a great result. This is only day two for me back in the car really, so it's great to be at the front for the first race."

Sunday's first race is due to get underway at 11.30.

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