SILVERSTONE lies in wait for Pershore’s Halfords Yuasa Racing this weekend as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship speeds towards a thrilling conclusion.

After a rough ride at Rockingham Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal head back to Northamptonshire bidding to boost Honda’s championship aspirations.

Scot Shedden, aiming to clinch a third BTCC drivers’ crown in as many years, is third in the points table while another multiple title winner Neal is seventh and though mathematically still in contention now focuses on assisting his team-mate’s tilt for glory.

Shedden said: “Our first objective has to be to immediately fight back because not very much went right for us at Rockingham but one of the inherent strengths of this team is our ability to come out punching when our backs are against the wall.

“From where we are in the championship we have to push flat out and while as a circuit Silverstone doesn’t necessarily suit our strengths, it’s essentially just a series of straights, such is the wildly unpredictable nature of the BTCC you genuinely never know what’s going to happen.

“We came from behind last year to win the title and although it’s clearly a bigger mountain to climb this season I can guarantee you we will be giving it 100 per cent all the way to the final chequered flag.”

Neal said: “We have some work to do after lady luck stubbornly refused to smile on us at Rockingham and from a personal point of view my job is to support Flash and help Honda and the team to close the gap in the manufacturers’ and teams’ standings.”

Meanwhile, Handy Motorsport and their Evesham driver Rob Austin bid to rediscover their early and mid-season form with only two meetings remaining.

After misfortune in recent rounds Austin is 12th in the standings and sixth in the independent rankings.

He said: “We obviously had podium pace at Silverstone last year and will be looking to deliver the same sort of performance at the weekend.

“I know we have a strong all-round package and the Toyota is slippery through the air which is important at Silverstone with a lot of the lap being straight.

“We’ve had such a torrid time over the past few rounds and I know the boys have been working incredibly hard on the car.

“In race two at Rockingham after we fitted the fresh tyre following the puncture we were the quickest car on the circuit so we know the pace is there.

“We’ve got the car to be competitive at Silverstone and get back to where we should be.”

Drivers: 1 Ashley Sutton 312 points, 2 Colin Turkington 300, 3 Shedden 257, 4 Rob Collard 256, 5 Tom Ingram 219, 6 Andrew Jordan 192, 7 Neal 187.