Gordon Shedden picks up points with fifth on his World Touring Car debut

WRT’s Gordon Shedden had a strong start to his World Touring Car Cup career, finishing fifth in his first race, one spot behind Audi team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay, after he was bumped up a spot after a post-race penalty for SLR Volkswagen driver Mehdi Bennani.

The Scotsman rued a mistake in qualifying when he hit the wall, but made the most of a good start, passing John Filippi’s Campos Cupra TCR down the inside into Turn 1 and then followed Bennani’s Volkswagen throughout the remainder of the race.

“It was perfect, I think I was one of the few people that passed people in that race off the start,” said Shedden to TouringCarTimes. “I’m glad I had the narrow Audi rather than the wide Audi, but I got there and that was great. The car felt really good, but then I was stuck in the queue, and I don’t think I’d have gotten out of here alive if I’d taken (Mehdi) Bennani off.

With Shedden racing at Marrakech for the first time, also his first street race event in more than a decade, the three-time BTCC champion said today was all about getting used to the car and the track.

“It’s new for me, as I know people struggle with brakes around here, I’d never done a race distance here before, and with it being wet this morning it was also our first dry running, so there were so many new things, I think it was just a question of getting it to the end and getting some points.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Shedden hopes to fare even better in the Leopard Lukoil-backed Audi RS 3 LMS.

“It was difficult to take risks in quali, but now I’ve got a bit more understanding of what I need to do in the car I’m looking forward to qualifying tomorrow. It’s pretty cool having another quali to go at it again.

“It’s going to be super-close again, so hopefully it works for us, but I’m glad we’re in the mix.”