Shedden Continues Title Chase

Gordon Shedden will continue his British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) title challenge at Thruxton this weekend after a promising start to his campaign. Rounds 10, 11 and 12 will take place at the Hampshire cuircit on Sunday, May 18th which is also live on ITV 4.

Shedden started his senior racing career in 2001 where he raced at Knockhill in the BTCC Production Class. He was the Production Class winner in Round 14 of the championship, which was a big achievement as he only raced in rounds 13 and 14 of the championship.

He then moved to SEAT Cupra Championship in 2003 and 2004 and finished a successful 2nd and 4th over the two seasons. He moved on in 2005 and raced in a one-off in the Porsche Carrera Cup at Knockhill. He has also had a spell of working as Business Development Manager for his home track at Knockhill.

This is Shedden’s third season in the BTCC, and he is still with the Halfords Team as he aims to improve on his previous seasons. On his debut season in 2006 he managed a 4th placed finish in the championship thanks to wins at Oulten Park, Thruxton and two wins at Donington Park.

In 2007 Shedden kept his seat on the Halfords team and repaid their trust by clinching 3rd place in the championship. Wins at Oulten Park, Donington Park, Snetterton and Knockhill helped the Scot recover from a poor start which prevented him launching a title challenge.

This year, the 29-year-old has managed a win at Rockingham and is currently sitting in 4th place in the championship. However he still has his favourite circuits to race so he will be confident in making up ground to Matt Neal, Jason Plato and Frabrizio Giovanardi. He still needs 29 points to catch championship leader Giovanardi, but with seven racing weekends still to go Shedden will be looking to close the gap and improve on his 3rd place finish of last season.

David Coulthard’s Season Preview

David Coulthard and his fans will line-up for the 15th Formula 1 season in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Red Bull Racing driver will be looking to get off to a flying start at Melbourne, Australia after a relatively steady season in 2007.

The Scot is now the oldest driver in the field with his 37th birthday only weeks away. He has also entered the most grand prixs in the field with number 230 coming up in Melbourne.

These stats and figures haven’t put Coulthard off; in fact he seems to relish the prospect of giving the youngsters a run for their money. He has also stepped into the unofficial spokesman role for the drivers concerning safety, as well as the recent spying scandal which embarrassed the sport.

The former McLaren and Williams driver is coming to the end of a glittering career which has seen him finish runner-up in the drivers championship in 2001 and 13 race wins between 1995 at Portugal and 2003 at Australia. His most notable wins came twice at his home grand prix, Silverstone, and twice at his current residence, Monaco.

Since his move to Red Bull in 2005, Coulthard has proved the critics wrong by consistently being strong in races including a podium finish at Monaco, to which he wore a Superman cape in 2006. Notably he has finished above his team-mate in his 3 seasons at the Red Bull Racing team, with Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi and current team-mate Mark Webber all falling short of the Scots season total.

This season sees a new addition for Coulthard and the rest of the drivers with a night race in Singapore. The race will be staged mostly on the streets of the city with only part of the race being held on purposely built track for the race. The race will commence at 8pm, Singapore time in September as history will be made when the red lights go out.

An exciting amendment has also been made to the final qualifying session with only ten minutes to clinch pole position on the grid. This will result in less time of the burning off fuel stage and more flying laps being recorded.

Red Bull as a team will want to improve on their 5th placed finish of last season, although they will find the task more difficult since McLaren’s points will be recorded this season, and a stronger looking Renault team with Fernando Alonso back on board. The team will look to finish ahead of their closest rivals: Williams and Toyota, while trying to cling on to the coattails of the Renault and BMW Sauber team.

Coulthard himself will want to improve on his 10th place finish of the 2007 season as well as the 14 points which he gathered. His personal aim will probably be aiming for at least the top 8. However, this will only be fulfilled if Red Bull’s reliability improves from the 2007 season.

Franchitti Back on Track

Life has never been busier for Bathgate-born Dario Franchitti after his Indy 500 win in the Indy Car series last year. The former karting driver, who won Scottish & British Junior Karting Championship as well as the British Senior Karting Championship went on to win the 2007 Indy Car Championship after 3 other individual race wins at Newton, Iowa; Richmond, Virginia; and Joliet, Illinois

The Indy 500 champ is also married to American actress Ashley Judd as the hectic showbiz lifestyle continues. With the media clamouring for the new celebrity couple to replace Posh & Becks, Franchitti is never out of the limelight.

After his Indy Car Championship win, NASCAR came calling and he signed up for Chip Ganassi Racing and is racing in both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup in the 2008 season.

 Franchitti also has to adjust from racing a one-seater car to a stock car. This transition will take time for the 34 year old but he has already made significant progress in NASCAR – especially the Nationwide Series.

As said earlier, the Nationwide Series has brought the Scot relative success in his first 3 races with a 20th, 24th and most recently a 6th place finish. This has left Franchitti in 9th place in the overall standings for the series.

The Sprint Cup, however, is a much more competitive series and the Scot has struggled to break into the top 25 with a 26th, 33rd, 32nd and another 33rd place finish to leave him 36th in the overall standings.

These figures may suggest doom and gloom for Franchitti but he currently shows that he has adjusted best to NASCAR compared to his fellow rookies. He currently tops the Raybestos Rookie of the Year for the Sprint Cup standings ahead of his 4 rivals.

Things are expected to pick up for Franchitti in future Sprint Cup races as he begins to grow the necessary experience in NASCAR. The team are trying to make the process speedier by entering him into the Nationwide Series to gain racing experience in a Stock Car and smooth out the transition from Indy Cars.

With 24 Sprint Cup races and 32 Nationwide Series races still to take place there is plenty of time for Franchitti to improve on performances and make it into the top 12 of the Sprint Cup standings to qualify for the ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ races at the end of the season.