Pole position, two race wins and the championship lead was an amazing start to 2014 for Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch (29/30 March).There could not have been a better start to the 2014 season. A huge crowd basked in warm spring weather as a mammoth 30-car field lined up for opening three BTCC races of the 30-race schedule. Superb live TV coverage on ITV4 completed the package and the Pirtek Honda Civic was right at the front of the action.Andrew set out his stall for the season by taking pole position away from Jason Plato in the closing stages of Saturday’s qualifying session. “That was a cool session,” said Andrew. “With three minutes to go I took pole by 12-thousandths of a second. That really set us up for races one and two. Plato had been quickest in free practice and then for the whole qualifying session until then. So it was nice to do it.”Andrew said that taking pole for the opening race of the season was particularly satisfying as the grid included six other former BTCC champions including returning superstars Fabrizio Giovanardi and Alain Menu. “That’s the only time in the season when everyone is on base weight and base boost, so that’s when you want to put it on pole. It showed the benefit of the hard work we’ve put in through the winter.”The pace-setting form continued in the opening race as Andrew held Plato at arm’s length to take a resounding victory. “In the first race I got a tap in the back at the first corner and had a big slide,” he said. “I had to hang on to that as Plato was still coming strong around the outside and I had to go deep into Druids to defend. After that it was just a case of managing the gap and looking after the tyres. “In race two, the team thought I was being ambitious trying to get a podium with 45kg of weight on. So to have a win against Gordon Shedden, who had less weight, was very good. Before the last safety car I’d started to pull away from him because I’d looked after my tyres really well. That was a real surprise to win that one with 45kg. It’s the first time I’d won race and two on the same day.“For the last race I started sixth and I reckoned eighth was the best I could get, but that was probably a bit ambitious. I was on the soft tyres and running 45kg of ballast. I got a bit mugged in the first couple of laps and couldn’t get back in the train. I couldn’t fight forward: I was always on the defensive. Overall, to come out of the weekend with pole, two wins and the championship lead is a very, very good start to the season. I was really pleased to win race two with full ballast.”