BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan battled hard to secure a brace of points finishes from a challenging third round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Thruxton.
Andrew went into the event looking to impress at his favourite circuit on the calendar, but had to settle for a best finish of 13th through three action-packed races in Hampshire.
With the top 21 drivers covered by just a second, Andrew qualified 16th on the grid for race one and was well placed to fight his way forwards into the points, which he did with ease in the opening laps.
Unfortunately, a spin whilst fighting for eleventh in the closing stages dropped him to the back of the pack and resulted in a 28th place finish.
Despite overtaking being far from straightforward due to the closeness of the field, Andrew was on a mission when the lights went out and had climbed up to 18th place when the race was red-flagged after an accident at Church damaged safety barriers.
When racing resumed, Andrew continued his forward progress to take 14th place in a race shortened to just six laps after a second incident saw the red flags deployed once again.
Having shown his pace throughout that second race, Andrew headed into the final race of the weekend eager to add more points to his tally and 13th place ensured he heads away from the weekend just shy of the top ten in the championship.
It also means Andrew will run without any success ballast going into the Oulton Park meeting in two weeks time, with the Cheshire circuit having been one that has traditionally suited his rear-wheel drive BMW in the past.
“There’s no hiding the fact that it’s been a tough weekend, but that’s the way it goes sometimes in a championship that is as close and as competitive as this,” he said. “I came here confident after our recent test session but for some reason, we just didn’t quite get the car working in the sweet spot and didn’t get the results we were hoping for.
“The spin in the opening race of the weekend was my fault as I made a mistake, and that compromised our position for race two, Despite that, we showed strong pace to come through the field from the back to score points – it’s just a shame the race was shortened as I don’t doubt we could have got higher up the order.
“In the third race it was important to make sure we scored more points as that is what will be key when we get towards the sharp end of the season, but my focus now turns to Oulton Park and a circuit where we know the BMW will be strong.
“The lack of ballast on my car will only help going into qualifying, so hopefully we can have a strong weekend and return to the kind of form that saw us win at Brands Hatch.”
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.
Select a country