DALGETY BAY race ace Gordon Shedden is excited to be coming back to Knockhill this weekend in the British Touring Cars Championship but insists his eye is firmly on the championship prize at the end of the season.

Shedden is 23 points off leader Colin Turkington with 12 races to go and is looking forward to having home advantage today (Sunday).

“We only get to race here once a year, so it’s really special,” he told Press Sport. “Our nation has a fantastic heritage in motorsport and for me to come back here and race in touring cars, something I grew up watching with my dad, it’s definitely special.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s very humbling – so many people come to watch that you can hardly move.

"People say that the crowd can be the 12th man in football and it’s the same here. It doesn’t make me drive any faster but you get encouragement from their enthusiasm.” The race weekend has even more hype around it than usual, with Knockhill celebrating its 40th anniversary with a spectacular display of cars in a ‘walk-through-time’-style marquee.

Shedden pointed out that the circuit has played an important role in the development of Scottish drivers over the years. “It’s great for Knockhill,” he said.

“It’s the only circuit in Scotland and is the first place the likes of David Coulthard ever drove a car.

"It’s really the first port of call for Scottish drivers. If you think about it, our exports in motorsport are probably more successful than our exports in anything else.” However, despite everything else that is going on over the weekend, Shedden is firmly focused on catching championship leader Turkington.

“I’ve got to make inroads into his lead,” he said. “Turkington has an eight-place grid penalty this weekend so it’s my job to try and pick up the points when they’re available.

“The most important thing is that I’m in with a chance at the championship when Brands Hatch comes around.

"It would be great to win here but at the end of the day the points are worth the same as anywhere else.” Shedden admitted it would be “awesome” to win his second championship on the 50th anniversary of Scots legend Jim Clark’s first championship win. “That’s the goal,” he said. “You always need a bit of lady luck, for the cards to fall your way, and I’ve had a really good season.

“It’s important to finish as high as I can each race and take advantage of any slip-ups.”