Andrew Jordan achieved his first win in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with victory in race three at Croft – also the first for TOCA’s turbocharged NGTC engine.
Jordan led every lap from pole position in his Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra to finish well clear of the rest, headed by Tom Onslow-Cole’s Team Aon Ford Focus. Steven Kane came through from 19th on the grid to finish third in his Airwaves BMW.
A tearful Jordan, aged 21 from Lichfield, said: “Two weeks ago at Oulton Park my day finished on top of the barriers. Today I’ve finished on top of the podium. It’s a fantastic result for the all team who worked so hard to rebuild my car. I’m ecstatic.”
In a race of attrition, championship leader Matt Neal retired with a punctured tyre on his Honda Civic. There was also a puncture for chief title rival Jason Plato who, after a pit stop, at least salvaged a point for setting the fastest lap in his Chevrolet Cruze.
Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, who’d won the day’s first two races, struggled as well, picking up just two points for ninth place in a battle-scarred Civic.
Leaving Croft, Neal continues to lead the series by eight points from Plato with Shedden a further 11 points back. The BTCC now takes a lengthy summer break before returning to action at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk on 8 August.
Elsewhere, Robert Collard, a potential winner of the race, lost a lap in the pit lane with electrical problems on his WSR BMW having just overtaken Tom Boardman for third. Boardman then surely looked set to achieve his first-ever podium result in the BTCC but it was still not to be as his Special Tuning UK SEAT Leon was muscled back to sixth by the sensational Kane, Onslow-Cole’s team-mate Tom Chilton and Paul O’Neill’s Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Honda. Kane, though, was later to receive a reprimand and had two penalty points put on his licence, officials unhappy with the manner in which he had robustly shoved Boardman out of the way...
Mat Jackson was a frustrated seventh – he’d been ahead of team-mate Kane at one point – while eighth, continuing his strong debut BTCC weekend, was 18-year-old Daniel Lloyd in his Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra. Behind Shedden, Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall completed the top ten.
After his fine showings in races one and two, Martin Depper was this time out of luck, retiring with a punctured tyre on his Forster Motorsport BMW. Collard’s team-mate Andy Neate stopped with collision damage to his BMW. David Pinkney was sidelined after five laps with more engine problems on his Pinkney Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra and Martin Johnson’s Boulevard Vauxhall Astra lasted just a lap before a misfiring engine ruled him out.
Croft/Qualifying /Race 1 /Race 2 /Race 3 /Race 3/P/ No/ CL/ Driver/ Car/ Laps/ Gap/ Best/ 1 77 I Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 15 -- 1m27.281s 2 21 I Tom Onslow-Cole Ford Focus ST 15 +7.885s 1m27.232s 3 11 I Steven Kane BMW 320si E90 15 +13.942s 1m27.161s 4 23 I Tom Chilton Ford Focus ST 15 +14.938s 1m27.453s 5 29 I Paul O'Neill Honda Integra 15 +16.200s 1m27.294s 6 22 I Tom Boardman SEAT Leon 15 +16.404s 1m27.053s 7 5 I Mat Jackson BMW 320si E90 15 +16.504s 1m27.114s 8 25 I Daniel Lloyd Vauxhall Vectra 15 +16.589s 1m27.557s 9 52 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 15 +21.678s 1m27.182s 10 20 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze 15 +22.994s 1m27.215s 11 14 I James Nash Vauxhall Vectra 15 +24.261s 1m28.072s 12 28 I John George Honda Integra 15 +32.178s 1m28.865s 13 43 I Lea Wood Honda Integra 15 +34.851s 1m28.739s 14 99 I Shaun Hollamby VW Golf MK5 15 +45.356s 1m29.061s 15 37 I Arthur Forster BMW 320si E90 15 +56.572s 1m29.931s 16 2 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 15 +1m14.319s 1m26.674s 17 6 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 14 +1 Lap 1m26.963s Not Classified - 30 I Martin Depper BMW 320si E90 11 +4 Laps 1m28.813s - 4 Matt Neal Honda Civic 10 +5 Laps 1m27.526s - 44 I Andy Neate BMW 320si E90 8 +7 Laps 1m27.543s - 55 I David Pinkney Vauxhall Vectra 5 +10 Laps 1m28.620s - 27 I Martin Johnson Vauxhall Astra Coupe 1 +14 Laps --
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