Andrew Jordan and Pirtek Racing suffered their toughest weekend of the season so far when the British Touring Car Championship resumed at Snetterton, with a ninth place finish in the second race the best the team had to show for it.
Jordan knew from the get go on Saturday that they were going to struggle for pace from their Vauxhall Vectra.
“We normally roll the car out for free practice and it is good from the start,” he said. “But this weekend the car just felt completely different. In qualifying I was driving the wheels off it.”
Despite his best efforts he could only manage 11th on the grid, with his teammate Jeff Smith a further four places behind.
Things were little better on Sunday. “We changed the dampers overnight and found a little bit and the car was better, but we were still a chunk off the pace,” said Jordan, who finished the first race in 11th. “It all kicked off at Turn 2 on the first lap and I couldn't make much progress.
“In the second race I finished ninth, but it was a struggle to pass people I normally go by without too much of a problem.”
His race three was hampered after being turned into a spin on the opening lap after a clash with the BMW of Rob Collard. “It was one of those things, really,” he said. “From lap four to eight we were in the top four lap times, which was some encouragement. But we were really struggling against the Fords in a straight line and it was frustrating being caught behind Chilton.”
The team will now work to identify the problem with the car before the next round at Knockhill on September 3/4.
