Halfords Racing with Cataclean duo Gordon Shedden and Dan Rowbottom make their way to Croft this weekend (25/26 June) ready to build on the pace their Honda Civic Type Rs displayed during the latest Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship outing at Oulton Park, little over a week ago.
Having started the weekend strongly, with Rowbottom qualifying sixth and his team-mate eighth, the pair headed into race day feeling confident at the Cheshire circuit.
A sluggish start in the opener for the #32 car meant Rowbottom would drop back to tenth place on the first tour, where he would battle within the fiercely competitive field to bag ninth spot at the flag.
Shedden would capitalise on his team-mate’s hardship, moving through the pack and into the top five by the fourth lap. Crossing the line third, the Scotsman would receive a three-place penalty post-race for an incident with the BMW of Adam Morgan, moving him to sixth in the result.
The second encounter proved frustrating for Rowbottom, when an incident early on and resulting off-track excursion forced him into the pit lane, dropping him down the order to take 26th place.
From sixth on the grid, Shedden was quickly embroiled in a race-long battle with the Ford of Dan Cammish, in which he came out ahead after an impressive overtake into Island Bend, claiming fifth place and another strong points haul.
Starting the final race from the back of the grid and with work to do, Rowbottom impressively avoided an incident involving a number of rivals early on, pushing through to the points-paying positions by lap seven. Continuing to pick off the pack ahead, the 33-year-old would conclude the 18-lap contest in 12th.
An equally strong performance from Shedden saw the three-time champion dicing with standings leader Josh Cook throughout, narrowly missing a podium finish with fourth place.
Shedden occupies sixth spot on the Drivers’ battle as Britain’s premier motorsport series heads to North Yorkshire, with Rowbottom in 11th, while Halfords Racing with Cataclean holds fifth in the Teams’ battle.
"I have to be happy with the results from Oulton Park,” said Shedden. “It was a shame about the coming together in race one as I felt I had the legs down the straight on Morgan, but we showed the pace of the car this weekend and to come away with 34 points is great and brings me back up to sixth in the Championship heading to Croft."
"Not the greatest weekend for me,” admitted Rowbottom. “I was pleased with our pace and that was shown in race three. Anyway, regroup now for Croft. We’ve just got to get some points on the board as everyone’s working really hard."
