It was a tough weekend in Scotland for Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing, with three finishes in the top 10 during rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill (4 September).
Andrew and his team mate Jeff Smith battled hard in their Vauxhall Vectras, but the current turbo boost settings within the BTCC are hurting the Vectras. “You can only do the best you can with what you have and, unfortunately, at the moment that isn’t good enough to win races like it was at the beginning of the year,” said Andrew.
Andrew really attacked the challenging track in qualifying and reckoned that he had driven some of the best qualifying laps he’d driven all year. “It only put us P11,” he said. “I honestly thought it would put us in the top five, because it was close to an accident at every corner. I came back and said: ‘that won’t go any quicker’. I got everything out of the car and out of myself that I could.
“In race one the power steering went intermittently and I hit the kerb through Clark, which sent me very high up on two wheels. Then after the safety car, the power steering went completely, which makes it hard at Knockhill as it is one of the most physical circuits. Through the dips and the tight corners it was really hard and we ended up ninth.” Race two followed a similar pattern with Andrew battling with James Nash as he again finished ninth.
“In race three the car was at its best. At the start I got bottled in at the tight right-hander at the bottom of the hill. Tom Onslow-Cole went round the outside and got me up onto the big kerb going through the right hander before the chicane. As I landed I had a big tank-slapper across the chicane. That dropped me back, but I managed to avoid the chaos at the re-start. That was just stupid.
“We ended up seventh, which was an okay result. We’ve pulled back some points in the Independents’ title because Mat Jackson had a bad day, but that’s not how I want to score points. I think we did the best with what we had.”
There is little time to regroup, as the busy run in to the end of the BTCC season means that the next three races at Rockingham are over the weekend of 17/18 September.
