Croft is a very unique challenge. It has some very high speed corners where you need to get some good stability in the car, but it’s also got some really slow corners where you want the car up on its tip toes and really lively. So we’re asking the engineers for the best of both worlds and it really comes down to the chassis. We’re asking for the impossible, and we’ve got to somehow come up with a good compromise that gives us the best weapon to do the job on race day.
We worked hard in testing. You can get the glory of pole position on Saturday but the big points are to be had on Sunday. So we spent a lot of time just really trying to give ourselves an understanding of this new Type R and setting it up to give us the best opportunity on Sunday.
Both Matt and I had a lot of ballast at the weekend for qualifying, I had 66 kilos, Matt had 58. I was absolutely delighted to qualify third with that kind of success ballast in the car. The only car with more ballast was Plato and he was down in twelfth, which gives you a bit of an idea as to how well quali went.
That really set up my weekend. It was a good result in the first race to finish fourth. There was no way I could catch the three rear wheel drive BMWs as they didn’t have any success ballast on at all. Also Croft favours the rear wheel drive car, it has for years and years.
Fourth was really positive and then more points in race two. My battle with Collard produced a pretty lively moment to say the least. Obviously the new Civic Type R’s far to pretty and he doesn’t like that. So he’s trying to reshape it into something else by hitting it on the back and up the side. I thought it was a bit uncalled for, and dangerous as well more than anything else. But I managed to survive and to keep him behind so we’ll move on, there’s no point in looking back so we’ll look forward to the next one.
There was a bit of pressure going into race three because we’ve had this new Civic Type R on the podium at least once at every single event this year. Up until race three at Croft it didn’t look very likely for us with the way the cards were falling. It was always going to be a tough one with the soft tyres, the track is so abrasive.
I was really chuffed to get a third place, especially on the soft tyres. No other front wheel drive car had made it anywhere near the podium with that combination all day. It was great to score some good points to sign off a pretty bruising, tough weekend for both Matt and I.
It all worked out well in the end, we got close and gave it everything! Now we go into the summer break leading the manufacturer’s championship and first and third in the drivers’ championship.
BTCC Driver’s Blog – Written by Gordon Shedden
