The opening round of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place this weekend at the fast and thrilling Thruxton Circuit in Andover. Newcomers to the series, Pirtek Racing are raring to go on their BTCC debut in their Vauxhall Vectra powered by TOCA’s Next Generation Touring Car engine, whilst the team’s driver, Andrew Jordan (20) returns to the field for his third consecutive season of the BTCC.

The competitive times at the series first official all-cars test at Brands Hatch last Tuesday has shown that this season’s BTCC is going to be a closely fought battle between the 23 entrants. Pirtek Racing will be fighting for Independent Team honours as well as the Driver’s Championship.

The high speed Thruxton Circuit provided Jordan with his first podium of the season last year, a feat the youngster from Staffordshire will be aiming to repeat this weekend, Jordan commented, “I really enjoy Thruxton, it’s a great circuit, really high speed and it requires a lot of commitment throughout the lap. I have good memories of the circuit, in my first year I was challenging Plato for the lead after starting on pole and last year I scored my first podium with VX Racing, so hopefully it will be third time lucky for me this year.

“If we have reliability on our side, then I think this will be the first real opportunity where we can showcase of the potential of the NGTC Turbo Engine. The Vectra was quick around this circuit last season and with my experience of the chassis combined with the power of the engine, we are confident of challenging at the front.

“I’m more relaxed, focused and excited about this season than ever before. It’s great to have the support of the family run team behind me as well as the tremendous backing we have from Pirtek, I just want to go out there and get them the results.”

The first three races of the thirty round series take place on Sunday 4 April, you can watch all the action live on ITV4 from 11am to 6pm.