Andrew Jordan made a remarkable circuit racing debut at Castle Combe over the weekend (25/26 June) as he raced in the AVO Ginetta Championship. Despite racing against very experienced rivals, he twice finished eighth but showed the speed to claim a podium finish.Having only recently turned 16 years old, Andrew (Sutton Coldfield) was eligible to race on a circuit for the first time and, following a successful test session at Mallory Park on Wednesday, stepped up for the three races at the high-speed Wiltshire track.The weekend started with a staggering performance in qualifying when Andrew posted third fastest time. "He just got quicker and quicker as the session went on," reported Andrew's father Mike. "I was astonished to qualify third. I didn't expect that. We had hoped to be in the top 20!" admitted Andrew.In the opening race, he dropped to sixth off the line, but was battling for a top four position when he spun onto the grass at Quarry Corner. "I made a simple error and spun to the back of the field," said Andrew. "But it was good experience to have to come back up through the pack." From rejoining in 26th place, he worked back to 17th place in the remaining laps.From 11th on the grid for race two, he worked steadily up the order into seventh place. However, he was then caught out as he came up fast on the car of Duncan Gass at Camp Corner and could not avoid slight contact on the exit of the corner. Gass spun into the tyre wall and the race was halted. From the re-start, Andrew finished eighth. "Unfortunately in the second race, a small error led to an accident for Duncan Gass. I'm just pleased that he was okay."For the third and final race of the weekend, he started 13th on the grid but had a superb opening lap to climb up to eighth place, running with the leading pack. "In the final I got a really good start. Before the race, we'd agreed that I'd take a fairly cautious approach and learn about racing in the pack. I was working my way up the order and was running with the lead pack when the race was stopped." Although he had got as high as sixth place, when the results were taken back a lap following an accident, he was classified eighth at the end of an amazing debut weekend. "The whole weekend was a huge learning curve," said Andrew.He will now return to junior rallycross for his next event, this coming weekend (2/3 July) at Anglesey.Andrew Jordan is supported by John Guest, Team Dynamics, Bill Gwynne Rally School and Pirtek