Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan produced a strong performance on track as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship headed to Silverstone for the penultimate meeting of the year, securing a second victory of the campaign to remain in contention for the championship crown.
Andrew went into the weekend sitting seventh in the championship standings, 56 points away from top spot, and with a 17 point lead in the Independents’ Championship.
A solid performance in qualifying at the wheel of his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus saw Andrew secure his best qualifying result of the season with fourth place.
Running third in the early stages of race one, Andrew would eventually take the chequered flag in fourth spot only to then find himself promoted into second hours later when the leading MG drivers were excluded for a technical infringement.
From the front row of the grid for race two, and running on Dunlop’s soft tyre, Andrew ran second behind Tom Ingram in the early stages before making his move for the lead at Becketts on lap seven.
Despite the deployment of the Safety Car that closed up the field behind, Andrew was able to control the remainder of the race from the front to secure his second win of the season.
Eighth place with maximum ballast in race three was enough to give Andrew the highest points score of any driver across the weekend and means he now sits 31 points off the championship lead as one of eight drivers in contention for the overall title at Brands Hatch next month.
A fourth Independents’ win, along with a brace of second places, mean he also takes a 34 point lead into Finals Day in the race for the Independents’ crown.
“I’d say it’s more than job done this weekend really; we couldn’t have done much more,” he said. “We had a strategy for qualifying to try and get a tow and it worked, which put us in a good position for race day.
“We put in a solid performance in race one to and then the second was absolutely spot on. The car felt really good and I have a technique that means I look after the soft tyre well, so I was able to hold my position at the front even after the Safety Car period, when usually you are more at risk from the cars behind.
“With the weight onboard, race three could certainly have been worse considering some of the lighter cars that were behind, but we’ve come away from the weekend with a great haul of points and a larger lead in the Independents’ championship.
“We’re still in the mix for the overall title, although a 31 point gap means we’ll need others to have some bad luck on Finals Day. However, all we can do it go out there, do our best and see where it leaves us.”
Pirtek is Europe’s number one provider of hydraulic solutions and mobile hose replacement, with over 170 centres supported by over 700 mobile service workshops throughout Europe; offering solutions to a number of business sectors, including the automotive industry.
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