Three-time BTCC champion Gordon Shedden has hit the front during the final Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session at Snetterton, as all 29 drivers prepared for this afternoon's qualifying Top Ten Showdown format.
Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Shedden has been on the pace throughout the day so far, as he had been during the Saturday at Thruxton last time out, before his race day rather unravelled at the Hampshire speedbowl.
Keen to make up for lost ground Shedden blasted his Honda Civic Type R around the Snetterton 300 circuit in an impressive 1:56.149s, albeit nearly half a second slower than this morning's benchmark – set by the Hyundai i30N of Tom Ingram.
Ingram will also have been buoyed by his FP2 effort as the Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com star ended up second in the order, ahead of an impressive run from Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct's Jack Goff in the new CUPRA Leon.
Ash Sutton will likely be a contender later this afternoon as he took fourth in the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti, backing up his solid run from this morning, whilst series returnee Senna Proctor can be happy with fifth for BTC Racing.
Jake Hill – carrying maximum success ballast aboard his Ford Focus by virtue of leading the standings – bounced back from a difficult morning as his MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square team fixed a cross-threaded wheel nut problem to get the Kent man back on track. Hill repaid his squad with a top six lap time.
Chris Smiley confirmed the potential of the EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundais by slotting into seventh, ahead of Daniel Rowbottom's Team Dynamics-run Honda.
Josh Cook (BTC Racing) and Tom Oliphant (Team BMW) completed the top ten order.
Attention now turns to Qualifying for Round 4 of the 2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, and the returning Top Ten Showdown format.
With a marginally reduced window to record their lap times, the top ten fastest competitors at the end of the 25-minute session, will be rewarded with the opportunity to clinch P1 on the grid during a ten-minute pole position showdown.
Lap times will be reset ahead of the showdown as all ten cars head out on-track and complete an unlimited number of laps during the ten minutes.
The full Top Ten Showdown qualifying session will be streamed live on itv.com/btcc, with the action kicking off from 1430, before Sunday’s race day broadcast on ITV4 starting at 1100.
2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 2 – Snetterton
1 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean 1:56.149s
2 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.409s
3 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +0.435s
4 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.549s
5 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) BTC Racing +0.669s
6 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +0.795s
7 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.903s
8 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +1.048s
9 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +1.133s
10 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +1.254s
11 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +1.300s
12 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +1.301s
13 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +1.308s
14 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +1.370s
15 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +1.443s
16 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +1.482s
17 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.565s
18 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +1.598s
19 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.612s
20 Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +1.648s
21 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +1.665s
22 Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +1.686s
23 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +1.788s
24 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +1.868s
25 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +1.910s
26 Jessica Hawkins (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +2.125s
27 Rick PARFITT (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +2.281s
28 Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +2.517s
29 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +2.694s
