The dauntingly fast Thruxton circuit, among the fastest on the schedule, is the next stop for Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing (3/4 May) for rounds seven, eight and nine in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.Across the opening six races, Andrew and the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic have been right at the head of the action despite being saddled with the maximum 45kg of success ballast as the early championship leader. However, three top five finishes at Donington Park ensured that Andrew heads to the high-speed Hampshire track as joint championship leader with Jason Plato.By any measure it is incredibly tight at the top of the points, as Jordan and Plato are level on 87, just one point ahead of Gordon Shedden and three up on Colin Turkington. With Matt Neal only eight points back, it is this quintet of drivers – all of them BTCC champions - who have taken early control of the 30-round title race.Now comes the unique challenge of Thruxton, where tyre management is a critical part of the weekend on a track notorious for high levels of tyre wear. However, Andrew believes that carrying maximum ballast may not be quite as big a handicap at Thruxton as it is at other tracks.“We might be able to carry the weight a little bit easier at Thruxton,” he said. “I want to get pole at Thruxton and make it three in a row: I’ve not won a race at Thruxton yet. But once again we need a consistent weekend. It’s a driver’s circuit and we want to be quick, but we need to be careful that we don’t hurt the tyres because a non-finish would be really bad news.”Andrew says that consistency is the absolute key to the 2014 title contest. “No one’s going to run away with the championship this year,” he said. “You’ve got to keep being up there every weekend. We want to win races, but we just need to keep scoring consistent points.”After qualifying on Saturday 3 May at 15.55, the first of three BTCC races will be at 12.10 on Sunday, with race two at 14.30 and race three at 17.15. All three races will be broadcast live on ITV4. Qualifying will be broadcast live at www.itv.com and live results from the weekend will be available at www.tsl-timing.com