GORDON SHEDDEN is banking on his home crowd to help him “make extraordinary things happen”.
The wiry Scot, nicknamed Flash, is in contention for the British Touring Car Championship crown.
The series next heads to Knockhill, north of Edinburgh, where Shedden will aim to close the 23-point gap to pacemaker Colin Turkington, a SunSport columnist.
Honda star Shedden, an instructor at Knockhill when he is not racing, is sure to receive a hero’s welcome from Scottish fans next weekend.
And he said: “It’s the one time each year that I get the opportunity to race in front of my home crowd – and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make a difference.
“The atmosphere around the circuit is second to none.
“The fans get so close to the action they can almost touch the cars as they speed around the lap, which is just incredible.
“Their support does give you an extra spring in your step and is sometimes capable of making extraordinary things happen.”
Shedden, BTCC champ in 2012, believes the rollercoaster nature of Knockhill will suit his Honda Civic Tourer.
He said: “It will be interesting to see how it all stacks up. The target is a big points haul and I’m definitely going there with my eyes on the prize.”
Shedden can count on strong support from his team-mate Matt Neal, who is out of contention for the title after several disappointing events.
And Honda’s technical director Barry Plowman reckons Knockhill will be a crunch meeting.
He said: “This is the business end of the season and the time to dig deeper than ever to make sure we put 100 per cent effort into winning the drivers’ and teams’ championships.
“The crowd is always right behind Flash at Knockhill and he has more experience of driving round there than anybody else on the grid, which can only help.”