Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing were right in the centre of the action at Thruxton (30 April/1 May) during the third meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Two more podium finishes have put Andrew into fourth overall in the drivers’ championship and a close third in the Independents’ Trophy.
With team mate Jeff Smith also running with top 10 pace, it was a superb weekend for Pirtek Racing as Andrew completed a run of five consecutive overall podium finishes. “It’s been a very good day,” he said as he reflected at the end of Sunday afternoon.
The high-speed Hampshire track has a notoriously abrasive surface which is incredibly tough on tyres and through practice Andrew and the team concentrated on race-length runs to get the best understanding of tyre performance ahead of the races. The team then switched the car into a qualifying set-up and Andrew stormed to second fastest time in qualifying.
In the first race he initially ran between the Hondas of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal, but then dropped to third as Neal charged ahead. “The Hondas were very strong in a straight line and I knew the move from Matt was coming in the first race; I was quite glad it came early,” said Andrew. “Then I could just get on with my own race and not think about defending from him. Third overall and first Independent was a good result for the first race.”
In race two, he took second on the road, but was later moved back to third behind Shedden in the results. “I could see Gordon was struggling; he outbraked himself into the chicane and I went four wheels over the kerb to get by him. I think I’d have still got him later in the race. Unfortunately, I got done for that and they swapped the results back, so I ended up third. That was our fifth consecutive podium.”
In the reversed grid race three Andrew started seventh and was soon attacking Tom Chilton for sixth. “I got to Chilton and got under him coming out of the chicane. But his engine is stronger than ours and he was able to close me down into Allard. I went in tight and hit the kerb, but he went in too fast. I thought I was going into the wall with him, but I managed to keep it on the grass. As I rejoined the track, Shedden went past and then Matt Neal outbraked me into the Complex and gave me quite a whack on the way past. That bent something on the steering but luckily we got some points. The front of the car was full of grass and we were concerned that the engine would overheat. Luckily I managed to lose a lot of it under the safety car. But after that I was just hanging on and seventh was the best I was going to get.”
