Gordon Shedden was unable to build on his previous strong form at
Donington Park during a frustrating third round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Shedden, who had won three times on his previous two visits to the East Midlands venue, qualified in fifth place in the Team Halfords Honda Civic but made solid progress when the first race kicked off to climb up to second place.
Having dropped down to fourth place after a Safety Car period, the Scot battled back into a podium position but would eventually end up in fourth after losing out to both
Matt Neal and
Tom Onslow-Cole in the closing stages.
Shedden then led then second race after a fine start but dropped to third place after running wide at the Old Hairpin. Contact from Onslow-Cole then led to a high-speed off at the Craner Curves and with damaged suspension, he did well to bring the car home in ninth place.
A gamble on tyres for race three looked like giving Shedden the chance to shine in race three, but with the circuit drying out, he was only able to salvage tenth place to cap a difficult weekend.
"Overall this was a disappointing weekend for me, the car had so much potential but the changeable conditions meant the circuit was really difficult to judge," he said. "I was on for a podium position in race two and moving through the field when I had contact with Onslow-Cole going through Craner Curves. It ended up with me going over the grass at very high speed which was pretty hairy! The car suffered a fair amount of damage to the suspension, so I limped it home in ninth.
"I really thought race three would be my opportunity to get a great points haul today, but a tyre gamble on the grid, didn't quite work out for me and hence affected the handling of the car and saw me slip down the order.
"But the car was strong today and I'm looking forward to Thruxton"
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