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British Touring Car Championship
Rockingham - Qualifying Update - 5/9/15

By MJP Media | 6 September 2015

Gordon Shedden is handed a 4-place grid penalty for the first race today following a procedural infringement during yesterday's qualifying session.

Gordon Shedden received a 4-place grid penalty for a pit lane infringement

Honda Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden has been given a 4-place grid penalty for the first race today following a procedural infringement committed during the qualifying session at Rockingham yesterday. With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, the session was stopped to recover Derek Palmer's Infiniti Q50 from the gravel trap at the Tarzan hairpin at which point Shedden was 10th on the time sheet.

When the session resumed, Shedden produced a fantastic lap in his ballast-laden Honda Civic Type R to move up to 3rd place, leap-frogging his championship rivals in the process. His joy was short lived when it was discovered that he had left the pit lane out of ascending pit bay order and was subsequently issued with a 4-place grid penalty by the Clerk of the Course.

Derek Palmer caused the qualifying session to be halted

Shedden commented: "I've picked up a four place grid penalty. One of our competitors highlighted a procedural error on the behalf of our team in the pit lane at the last stoppage and unfortunately the penalty that goes with that is four places. The error broke a regulation that governs how the cars should leave the pit lane. We've got to race to the rules and it would appear that we've broken the rule and we've been punished - it is what it is and there's nothing I can do to change it."

Mat Jackson on his way to pole position at Rockingham

The revised grid for the first race will see Mat Jackson in pole position following a stunning qualifying session where he set a new BTCC qualifying lap record around the Rockingham circuit. It was a double delight for Motorbase Performance as it was the team's first ever pole position in the BTCC. Joining Jackson on the front row of the grid will be Aron Smith in the Team BMR RCIB Insurance Volkswagen CC.

Following Gordon Shedden's penalty, Jack Goff will start the first race on the 2nd row of the grid in his MG 888 Racing MG 6GT ahead of Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis. Row 3 will see arch rivals Jason Plato and Matt Neal with Gordon Shedden and Aiden Moffat on row 4. Reigning BTCC Drivers' Champion Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan complete the top 10 starters on row 5.

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