Despite having the pace to claim a podium result, Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing had a frustrating time in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire over the weekend (17/18 September).Rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the 30-race season ran at the Corby track. Unfortunately a knock from another car cost Andrew the chance of a podium finish and left him battling back up the order in the second and third races. Meanwhile, his Pirtek team mate Jeff Smith had a strong day to bag two top eight finishes.In rain affected qualifying on Saturday, Andrew posted an encouraging eighth fastest time, with Jeff back in 21st on the 26-car grid. “Qualifying was alright,” reported Andrew. “But we were still struggling to get a balance on the car.”Race day started superbly as Andrew made a blistering start for the opening race and went from eighth to third in less than a lap. But disaster was not far away. “I was just comfortable sitting there and looking after the tyres,” said Andrew. “I ran a bit deep at the Hairpin and Gordon Shedden got underneath me. So I planned to just tuck in behind him. But he gave me a good whack on the left front wheel, which broke the steering rack. In the time we’ve been racing the Vauxhall Vectra, we’ve never broken a steering rack, so the contact was a bit too hard for my liking.”To add to his frustration, the non-finish meant Andrew would have to start race two from near the back of the grid. “Even if that had been a top six result, that would have set the day up nicely. But I ended up 22nd on the grid for race two. The problem these days is that the BTCC field is so close that if you come up to someone like the AON Fords it is really hard to get by.”After the Pirtek Racing team worked hard to change the steering rack in double quick time, Andrew raced hard in race two. “I got through to 13th in the second race, which was okay. In race three I got a really good start and got up to P10 quite quickly. I got past both the Hondas. I let Matt Neal back past because he caught me so quickly. I decided I might as well let him go and then try and go with him. Then we caught Jeff and he did a really good job of defending his place,” said Andrew as the Pirtek cars finished seventh and eighth. “But for Shedden in the first race it could have been a pretty good day because our race pace was good. But it ended up being frustrating because you are on the back foot all day then.”