Gordon Shedden tops pre-season testing for the 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup

Gordon Shedden led the way in the first official pre-season test for the 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup at the Circuit de Catalunya, topping the time sheets in his Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team RS 3 LMS.

The three-time British champion left it until the final session on Friday afternoon to pop in the best time of the week of 1:54.434, just under a tenth of a second faster than the rest of the competition.

Although various teams were on different test programmes, meaning the times aren’t necessarily representative of the pace that will be seen next weekend when the season starts at Marrakech in Morocco, it was still a positive start for the Scottish driver.

Shedden’s programme continues this year with the Belgian Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team, and with a new and highly experienced engineer in Paul Ridgway, who’s recently engineered Jason Plato and Nicky Catsburg to numerous victories in the British and World championships, things are looking set for a strong season in what’s set to be one of the toughest motorsport championships of the year.

Gordon Shedden said:

"It's a very encouraging start. We should probably be careful about looking too much into the times, as we know not everyone is showing their true pace, but it's a positive start and things are certainly going in the right direction.

"We've been trying lots of different things to try to understand the car, as our winter testing has been a bit limited compared to our competitors. We've been information gathering for the last two days and now we just need to look at the results and understand the best way forward for Marrakech.

"Looking ahead, 2019 is going to be very exciting season. If you sat down and tried to come up with who you'd want in the perfect touring car championship, you would probably come up with what we have here.

"With Gabriele Tarquini, Yvan Muller, Andy Priaulx on the grid, with a grid of 26 guys, ten of which can probably win the championship, and almost certainly every one of them have the ability to win races, it's going to be a mega season."
 


Barcelona official pre-season test times

1 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport RS 3 LMS - 1:54.434
2 - Néstor Girolami - Honda Civic TCR - +0.074
3 - Esteban Guerrieri - Honda Civic TCR - +0.097
4 - Jean-Karl Vernay - Audi RS 3 LMS - +0.405
5 - Ma Qing Hua - Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce - +0.492
6 - Kevin Ceccon - Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce - +0.810
7 - Niels Langeveld - Audi RS 3 LMS - +1.181
8 - Attila Tassi - Honda Civic TCR - +1.673
9 - Daniel Haglof - Cupra TCR - +1.686
10 - Yann Ehrlacher - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - +1.778
11 - Rob Huff- Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR - +1.856
12 - Mikel Azcona - Cupra TCR - +1.871
13 - Tom Coronel - Cupra TCR - +1.927
14 - Yvan Muller - Lynk & Co 03TCR - +2.131
15 - Mehdi Bennani - Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR - +2.157
16 - Benjamin Leuchter - Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR - +2.172
17 - Aurélien Panis - Cupra TCR - 2.209
18 - Andy Priaulx - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - +2.276
19 - Gabriele Tarquini - Hyundai i30 N TCR - +2.294
20 - Tiago Monteiro - Honda Civic TCR - +2.589
21 - Norbert Michelisz - Hyundai i30 N TCR - +2.615
22 - Johan Kristoffersson - Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR - +2.681
23 - Thed Bjork - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - +3.299

The first round of the 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup takes place at the Circuit Moulay El Hassan in Marrakech on 6th-7th April.