Charging Jordan flies at Knockhill / British Touring Cars

A magnificent charge from the back of the grid to fifth place across two races put CBT-backed Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing right back into the midst of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill. However, there should have been at least a podium and possibly a win, but he was knocked out of the opening race after qualifying third fastest.

The Scottish venue was the setting for rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the BTCC and delivered action-packed and high drama for one of the biggest crowds ever seen at Knockhill. Andrew was right in the mix in the opening race until inadvertent contact from Gordon Shedden put the Pirtek Honda Civic out of the race.

The weekend started well when Andrew set third fastest time in qualifying to show that he was right back on top of his game after the Snetterton accident. “I was happy with qualifying after the problems at Snetterton,” he said.

That form continued into the opening Knockhill race when he was soon battling with Shedden for the lead. Then, just after Andrew went ahead, the Scottish ace spun and as Shedden’s Honda ran backwards towards the corner it hit the Pirtek car hard enough to damage the rear suspension and put Andrew out of the race. Critically, that meant starting race two from the back of the grid at a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.

“Race one was going well and it would certainly have been a podium and maybe a win,” said Andrew. “Unfortunately, it was just one of those things. Last year we were lucky with a few things and this year it just hasn’t fallen our way. That put me 30th on the grid for race two and I got up to 11th. I was pleased to get there at a track like Knockhill where there are not many overtaking places. That was all I could do and it was one of my better drives through the pack.”

Andrew then started race three from 11th on the grid and continued his mighty charge to race through to fifth place at the flag. “It was a hard race with some good overtaking moves and it was good to go from P30 to P5 in two races. But we couldn’t match the pace of the BMWs,” said Andrew.