At just 14 years of age, Andrew Jordan is about to embark on his first full season of motorsport. The Sutton Coldfield youngster will be competing in the British Junior Rallycross Championship, which starts with a double-header event in Northern Ireland this weekend (27/28 March).
Andrew, who won’t celebrate his 15th birthday for another two months, is already a rallycross champion, having taken a series of race wins to clinch the recent Junior Winter Series. Now, however, he is bidding for the national title and will head to Ireland determined to get his 2004 campaign off to a winning start.
On Sunday (21 March), Andrew secured the Junior Winter title at the Blyton circuit in Lincolnshire. Despite testing weather conditions, he stormed clear of his rivals to take a dominant victory in the final and win his first motorsport title.
Junior Rallycross is just like the real thing. It is wheel to wheel racing on a circuit that is part-tarmac and part-loose surface, thus providing a tremendous test of skill for the drivers. The Junior series is open to youngsters aged from 14 to 16 and is the perfect training ground for those seeking a career in professional motorsport.
"So far, I've done the Winter Series and a round of the Clubmans Championship," says Andrew, who is a GCSE pupil at Streetly School. "I'm enjoying it loads!" Like all the drivers in the Junior Championship, Andrew races a purpose-built Mini and will head to Ireland this weekend with a new car that his father Mike has developed for the coming season. As a multiple racing champion, Mike knows all about winning in motorsport.
The two events are at the Kirkistown (Saturday) and Nutts Corner (Sunday) and are the opening two rounds of the nine-event championship, which will take the drivers to Kent, Yorkshire, Scotland and back to Ireland over the next six months.
Even though he is some way off being old enough to drive on the road, Andrew is already clear about where he wants to take his motorsport career. "My ambition is to be World Rally Champion," he says. However, in the short-term, more Junior Rallycross success this weekend is the aim of the Midlands-based youngster.
