Touring Cars: Gordon Shedden braced for cold start

Fifer Gordon Shedden will battle not only the other 31 cars on the British Touring Car Championship grid this weekend, but also the cold. And he knows which will be the biggest challenge as he starts the defence of his BTCC title at Brands Hatch. “The cold: I hate it,” the Knockhill director admitted yesterday after arriving at the Kent circuit.

“We’ve had loads of snow at Knockhill over the past few weeks, and there’s an outside chance we might get snow this weekend. We had planned ten days of pre-season testing, but only managed four. We’ve been well and truly scuppered by the weather. But at least it’s the same for everyone.”

Shedden embarks on the 30-race season in his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic determined to retain his title, and admits to feeling less pressure than last year. “There’s a definite change knowing my name’s already on the trophy,” he said. “I definitely feel much more relaxed, and think I’ll be able to concentrate more on the actual racing this season.”

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