Pirtek BMW Racing’s Andrew Jordan enjoyed a fine end to the weekend at Rockingham after wrapping up his third victory of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season.
Andrew headed into the eighth meeting of the campaign looking to bounce back from challenging weekends on track at both Snetterton and Knockhill, where the pace is his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 125i M Sport wasn’t reflected in the end results.
An astonishingly tight qualifying session saw Andrew post the 18th quickest time despite being just half a second off pole, with the 28-year-old eager to try and fight his forwards on race day.
Running the harder compound Dunlop tyre in race one, Andrew worked his way forwards to twelfth place by the finish and then came out on top a race-long battle with fellow WSR driver Rob Collard in race two to pick up seventh.
That then put Andrew on pole for the final race of the weekend once the reverse grid draw took place, and he was able to fend off the Mercedes of Adam Morgan in the early stages – and at a late race restart following a Safety Car period – to secure his third victory of the campaign.
That third win means Andrew now sits sixth in the championship standings, with BMW Pirtek Racing just a point shy of the same position in the Teams’ Championship.
“In recent events, our pace has been unrewarded so I went into this weekend feeling quite relaxed,” he said. “After qualifying, I knew we were out of position and the aim was to simply maximise what we could from the three races.
“It was good to make up places on the hard tyre in race one, and I enjoyed the battle with Rob in race two. It showed how important it is to not roll over and concede a position, because that gave us the reverse grid and set up the win.
“It was harder than I expected in race three to get the heat into the tyres early on and I struggled a bit at the start, but once I got a few lengths on the Mercedes, I knew we could do it. It was the same at the restart and once I saw the gap behind, I could take it take it steady.
“After tough weekends at Snetterton and Knockhill, this victory tastes a little bit sweeter and the whole team has done a great job this weekend.”
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