Strong first weekend of 2019 for Gordon Shedden in Morocco

Top ten finish with the updated Audi RS 3 LMS in Marrakech

Scotland's Gordon Shedden had a promising start to his 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup campaign, with three strong points finishes in the three races at the Circuit Moulay El Hassan in Morocco.

The three-time British champion was caught out in the first qualifying session, and qualified down in 23rd, but made good progress in the race, making places and avoiding a number of incidents to advance to 14th position at the circuit where it's almost impossible to pass, and picked up points in the first race.

After working on the set-up overnight, Shedden was able to go tenth fastest in the first qualifying session and move into the second part of qualifying.

He's qualify in 12th for both races, but a bad start in the second race of the weekend saw him drop near the back of the pack, but he'd again recover to finish in the points in 15th.

In the final race, a good start and a strong race was the highlight of the weekend, with Shedden going on to cross the line in seventh position, finishing just behind Race 1 podium finisher Néstor Girolami's Honda Civic TCR and ahead of 2017 championship runner-up Norbert Michelisz's Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Gordon Shedden said:

"It was a good weekend. We stayed out of trouble, and the car felt good, but quite often I was just stuck in the queue and from there, there's nowhere to go here. The car felt better race-by-race, and on our final race run, the car was really strong.

"We were tucked up behind (Néstor) Girolami, who finished on the podium on Saturday, and with Gabriele Tarquini right in front of us who’d won Race 2, so having the pace to run with these guys felt good; we just need to find a little more pace in qualifying so we can go racing for the top results.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do before Hungary, but everything’s going in the right direction.

"We’ll keep chipping away and see how we go. You also need a bit of luck and need the cards to fall your way."
 

Qualifying 1 result

1 - Esteban Guerrieri - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 1:24.773
2 - Yvan Muller - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.239
3 - Thed Björk - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.276
4 - Néstor Girolami - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 0.336
5 - Andy Priaulx - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.365
23 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team - Audi RS 3 LMS - 1.145

Race 1 result

1 - Esteban Guerrieri - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 18 laps
2 - Thed Björk - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.638
3 - Néstor Girolami - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 2.181
4 - Gabriele Tarquini - BRC Racing Team - Hyundai i30 N TCR - 2.965
5 - Andy Priaulx - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 4.298
14 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team - Audi RS 3 LMS - 16.936

Qualifying 2 result

1 - Frédéric Vervisch - Comtoyou Racing - Audi RS 3 LMS - 1:24.721
2 - Yvan Muller - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.370
3 - Thed Björk - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 0.503
4 - Tiago Monteiro - KCMG - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 0.872
5 - Mikel Azcona - PWR Racing - Cupra TCR - 0.918
12 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team - Audi RS 3 LMS - 0.702

Race 2 result

1 - Gabriele Tarquini - BRC Racing Team - Hyundai i30 N TCR - 18 laps
2 - Jean-Karl Vernay - WRT - Audi RS 3 LMS - 3.317
3 - Yann Ehrlacher - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 3.991
4 - Esteban Guerrieri - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 4.514
5 - Mikel Azcona - PWR Racing - Cupra TCR - 4.669
15 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team - Audi RS 3 LMS - 13.109

Race 3 result

1 - Thed Björk - Cyan Racing - Lynk & Co 03 TCR - 23 laps
2 - Frédéric Vervisch - Comtoyou Racing - Audi RS 3 LMS - 0.680
3 - Mikel Azcona - PWR Racing - Cupra TCR - 3.039
4 - Esteban Guerrieri - Münnich Motorsport - Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR - 6.182
5 - Gabriele Tarquini - BRC Racing Team - Hyundai i30 N TCR - 10.174
7 - Gordon Shedden - Audi Sport Leopard Racing Team - Audi RS 3 LMS - 14.725

The next round of the 2018 FIA World Touring Car Cup takes place at the Hungaroring near Budapest on 27th-28th April.