Beautiful British sunshine greeting the Pirtek Racing team over the weekend as the seventh round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship took place at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire. The striking blue, red and yellow Pirtek car with Andrew Jordan at the wheel stormed to a points finish in the first race of the day, which was followed by a promising podium run in race two prematurely ended by a puncture. The final race of the day saw Jordan once again in the points when a racing incident put him out of the race.
Saturday’s practice sessions saw Jordan star at the top of the timesheets with the quickest time of anyone in the second session, this was backed up by a top six position in qualifying. Lining up on the third row in race one, just behind the two Championship contenders Matt Neal and Jason Plato, Jordan quickly displaced Neal into the first corner and moved up to fifth. Throughout the remainder of the race Jordan pursued the two Chevrolets ahead. With little to choose between the top five, Jordan crossed the line in a well earned fifth place.
A lightening start in race two gave Jordan an excellent run into the first corner, moving ahead of the two Chevrolets and into a strong third place. With a podium in his sights, Jordan had Tom Chilton ahead and knuckled down to make a move. However disaster struck on lap 12 when a front left puncture caused by debris on track left the team needing to make a pit stop for a tyre change. This cost the team valuable time and Jordan rejoined the track down the order in 18th place.
Starting from 18th for the final race required another good start from Jordan - the youngster delivered and was up to 11th after the first lap. Jordan, with one of the quickest cars on track, was well placed for a strong points finish after displacing both Phil Glew and James Nash in quick succession. Whilst running in ninth place, Jordan positioned his car to make a move up the inside of Steven Kane for eighth. As Jordan moved up the inside of Kane, he was pushed wide onto the grass but maintained position running alongside the BMW, as Jordan rejoined the duo collided and the Pirtek car was pushed into side of Rob Collard’s BMW and into the gravel, ending Jordan’s race.
Jordan commented, “The results today don’t perhaps reflect just how good the car was this weekend. I think we could have scored points in all three races and possibly a podium. Before the puncture in race two, I had a vibration very early on which could’ve signaled a problem, and when a tyre goes it’s pretty much game over, I’m sure it cost us a podium which was really disappointing.
“Then in race three the car was really hooked up and I was enjoying slicing my way through the field, I tried to go up the inside of Kane into Becketts and I was pushed wide onto the grass. I still had a run on him but as I rejoined he had no room and I was spun round into Collard. It was a big hit and there’s a lot of damage and it’s going to be a tight turnaround for Knockhill in less than two weeks time.
“At least we can look at the positives from the day, we are a single car team up against bigger teams with manufacturer involvement and we are able to take the fight to those guys and effectively class ourselves as best of the rest. I’m really happy with the development of the car and the work put in from the team, it’s just such a pity we had our races ended prematurely through no fault of our own.”
The next race on the BTCC calendar takes place at the Knockhill circuit in Fife, Scotland in just under two weeks time.
