Jordan storms clear: BTCC Rnds 22/23/24

Having gradually closed the gap to Matt Neal in the championship standings in the previous two meetings, Andrew Jordan stormed into the points lead with his best weekend to date in the BTCC at Rockingham last weekend.

The Pirtek Racing man headed to the Northamptonshire circuit six points behind fellow Honda driver Neal in the standings but a brace of victories in challenging conditions – coupled with a weekend to forget for Neal – meant Jordan suddenly found himself 30 points clear at the top then the weekend ended.

The weekend had started with MG pair Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff out front, with the duo locking out row one in a dramatic qualifying session.

Plato’s pole position – which moved him to the top of the pile when it comes to qualifying averages – saw him break the qualifying lap record, with Rob Austin again impressing in his Audi to take third.

“I knew if we did everything right we’d be on pole but that’s been the frustration sometimes this season as we’ve made too many mistakes,” Plato said afterwards. “We hold our hands up when we make mistakes but now we need to sharpen up because this is obviously a really tough championship.

“It’s an important pole position and great that both Sam and I are up there, but we’ve got a tough job to do tomorrow.”

Plato’s post-qualifying prediction proved to be correct when the lights went out at the start of a damp opening race, with a tardy getaway from both of the MG men giving a chance to a fast-starting Jordan – who had lined up alongside Austin on row two.

Taking the lead by the end of the opening lap and then surviving a Safety Car period brought about by a multi-car clash back in the pack, Jordan stormed to his fifth victory of the year – and suddenly found himself as the man to beat in the championship standings.

“After the safety car I got away and could control the gap as I wanted to which I’m really pleased with,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go, it’s great to have moved ahead in the points but I need to keep my head for the next two races and really make the most of it.”

Jordan’s title challenge was aided by Neal making an uncharacteristic mistake shortly before the restart, when he spun at the final chicane just as the Safety Car pitted. It dropped him to the back of the field and while he recovered to 14th, his six point lead had gone – with Jordan now 13 in front.

Behind Jordan in the race, Mat Jackson was finally given reason to cheer in what has proven to be a difficult season in the Airwaves Racing Ford as he took second, with third going to Austin who recovered from losing ground early on to charge through to the podium, taking third from Gordon Shedden late on.

Poleman Plato however could only manage fifth, with a misfire meaning team-mate Tordoff failed to even score…

With maximum ballast in his car, and on a now dry circuit, Jordan was unable to stay out front when race two got underway, and by the time the field had made its way down to turn two, he was already losing places – eventually taking the flag down in eighth.

Amazingly though, his advantage was extended in the standings as Neal failed to finish with a steering issue.

Victory in the race went to Austin, who stormed to a popular win only weeks after clinching his maiden pole position in the series at Knockill.

The WIX Racing man would lead from start-to-finish after jumping Jordan when the lights went out, and was never seriously troubled as he put an Audi on top of the BTCC podium for the first time in well over a decade.

“What a feeling!” the former single-seater racer said. “It has been three years of blood, sweat and tears – for the team, for my family, for everyone.

“We’re up against teams with four times our budget and to beat guys like that is just incredible. I backed off a bit towards the end but Sherman was brilliantly prepared and the guys did a great job – I’m so proud of the whole team.”

Behind Austin, Shedden took second to also move into second spot in the championship standings, while Colin Turkington put his eBay Motors BMW into the podium after battling ahead of Jackson at Gracelands late on.

While eighth in race two hadn’t been what Jordan had hoped for, the silver lining was that he ended up on pole for race three when the reverse grid draw was made.

Handed the perfect chance to double up, Jordan took full advantage with a second win – again dealing with an early Safety Car period for a win that moved him 30 points clear of Shedden in the standings.

The double win means the youngster has now won more races this year than he had done in his previous five seasons in the series while his six wins are more than anyone else has managed so far in 2013.

“That went even better than I’d planned to be honest!” he said. “We thought we’d be quick in the wet but didn’t really know how well we’d go in the dry so such success was a bit unexpected – the car was a dream to drive all day.

“With six races to go a lot can happen. We’ve got to keep our heads down, not focus too much on the championship and keep doing what we do best which is be competitive right to the end.”

Turkington and Plato completed the podium places to remain in championship contention with Shedden fifth and Neal seventh – ensuring the fight for honours remains a five way fight going into next weekend’s penultimate round of the year at Silverstone.

In the Jack Sears Trophy for Super 2000-spec machinery, the championship battle came to an end as a dominant showing from Lea Wood was enough to give him the crown.

Taking a healthy lead into the weekend, the Vauxhall Vectra driver took full advantage of gearbox issues for main rival Liam Griffin to take an unassailable lead in the championship – a hat-trick of wins putting him seven victories clear with only six races left to run.

“In my mind the championship isn’t over until the end of the year, but to get the results we did and move out of reach of the others is fantastic,” he said. “The car performed faultlessly all weekend.”

Next up, the series heads to Silverstone for the penultimate meeting of the year next weekend.