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Champion Jordan: “To Win It Is Just Incredible!”

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Newly-crowned Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship champion Andrew Jordan admitted that his achievement had not sunk in yet after an emotional day at Brands Hatch.

The Pirtek Racing Honda Civic driver came out on top in a thrilling conclusion to the 2013 season that saw three drivers enter the 30th and final race with a chance of clinching the spoils, a fifth and ninth place finish in the first and third encounters enough to complete the task in hand.

Jordan edged last year’s champion Gordon Shedden to the title despite his Scottish rival ending the season with victory in the final race, Jordan showing tears of emotion after crossing the line to win the prestigious overall BTCC title by seven points over his fellow Honda opposition.

“It is unreal. It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest”, Jordan told TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk afterwards.

“It was emotion and relief. Today has been up and down, and after race two it wasn’t looking too good and swung the other way for us. In the end it was just relief really.

“I have felt a lot of pressure over the last few weeks since Silverstone, and I have been very tense. To get it and get the weight lifted off my back was just incredible.”

Despite his 100 per cent finishing record being stymied by an unwanted non-finish in race two following suspension damage after a collision with Matt Neal while avoiding the spinning Rob Collard, Jordan sealed the deal with a fine climb up to ninth place in the third and final race.

Jordan Neal collision race 2 Brands Hatch 2013

Jordan recovered from a race two retirement (Photo: btcc.net)

He added:  “I was the most relaxed I’ve been for the last couple of weeks before race three. I was driving my own race and did some good, clean moves.

“Collard was driving his wheels off trying to get to [Adam] Morgan, so I kept getting messages on the radio saying back it off.  Everybody gave me room, which was really nice.

“Looking back at it, if we had finished all of them it would have been good and to have ideally wrapped it up in race two, but to win it in the last race in the way we did, after all that excitement and tension, was special.”

The round 29 scare was the only blip in what has proved a sensational season for the 24-year-old, an amazing run of consistency, coupled with the former Rallycross champion’s proven outright speed were listed as Jordan’s personal factors towards he and the Independent squad’s championship achievement.

“I’ve been quicker, I’ve been more consistent and I’ve won more races than I have before”, Jordan added.

“We don’t get too hung up on the fact that we are an independent, not a manufacturer. We are a team and a group of people with a car, and we do the best we can, and having fun along the way.”

The new series champion and now two-time Independent title holder says that once the celebrating is over, he will return to defend his crown in 2014 with the Pirtek Racing squad he has stayed loyal to since 2010.

“We are testing next week to come back and do it again, but I am going to enjoy this for the winter.

“I’m doing touring cars for the next two years with Pirtek, so to have that stability is fantastic.”

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