CBT man Jordan closes in on title rivals / British Touring Cars

CBT’s BTCC driver Andy Jordan moved closer to the top of the championship points table at Snetterton over the weekend (8/9 August) thanks to a hat-trick of strong finishes.

Jordan’s MG Triple Eight Racing MG6 GT carried 33kg of ballast into qualifying, Jordan lapping the 2.99-mile Norfolk circuit in a time of 1:56.240, good enough for fourth position on the grid.

Glorious sunshine awaited the MG factory squad on Sunday morning with track temperatures up to 40 degrees. Jordan and his team-mate Jack Goff both elected to use the soft tyre in race three, and it proved to be a good decision as the trio of races played out.

In race one Jordan, the 2013 BTCC champion, started fourth and finished fourth as he produced a consistent performance in the tow of the trio of leading Volkswagen CCs.

With the fastest lap times from race one determining grid positions for race two, Goff was the lead MG on the grid in fourth for the second 12-lap encounter with Jordan four spots further back in eighth. Further back in the pack, Andy was in prime position to sustain damage in the opening lap, and so it proved: Jordan got beaten up hard, suffering bent rear suspension following contact from Newsham whilst eighth.

Jordan went on to produce a valiant display as he made his Pirtek-liveried car the widest on the circuit, despite having Tom Ingram looming in his mirrors. Drawing on all of his experience, the Lichfield-based racer was made to work for his seventh place from lap five before Ingram finally yielded his attack on the final lap, leaving Jordan to complete what was a gutsy drive to follow Goff across the line for seventh.

After the reverse grid draw was made, Goff was drawn on to pole position while Jordan would start from seventh – both on the soft tyre. Jordan was making up for lost points in race two, and looked very racy, applying pressure to Morgan’s Mercedes at Riches, clinching sixth, before completing a sensational pass on Colin Turkington heading into Williams two laps later. He went on to take fifth, with team-mate Goff leading from pole to flag.

Said Andrew: “We’re back towards the front again and that is really good. I’m happy with the speed the car has shown but we have been on the end of a few hits here and there that hampered our progress. It’s frustrating because you can’t engineer a car for people to then come and scupper your race with contact. Overall though it has been good, we’ve closed the points up in the championship, gaining nine, so we’re back in the hunt so to speak. Huge congratulations have to go to Jack as well, I could see him up the road and I was willing him on. I remember how good it felt to take my first win and he really deserves this.”