1 – Andrew Jordan
It was a fairytale year for Andrew Jordan and his Independent Pirtek Racing squad, who picked up the overall prize they dreamed of just 12 months after an ecstatic Independent’s Championship triumph at the same Brands Hatch GP venue.
The 24-year-old had the pace to become BTCC champion; the question was whether he could couple that pace with a solid degree of consistency across the 30 rounds – and he certainly delivered.
Matching his works Honda Civic rivals all season – and bettering them on outright pace on plenty of occasions – he handled the weight penalties noticeably better than others, and focused more on a long-term game than what his frame of mind would have told him previously.
He still used his elbows at the right times however, as battles with Jason Plato at Silverstone and hard-fought wins at Oulton Park, Snetterton and Rockingham proved, but the pace and race ability of Jordan in 2013 warranted the 2013 title without debate, and he duly came out at the end of the season victorious.
Despite being denied a perfect finishing record in a tension-inducing 29th round of the season by unfortunate contact with Matt Neal, Jordan’s calm drive from the back to the top 10 in the final race was enough to clinch the title, the scenes of joy in the pits afterwards involving Jordan, his team and his family being a touching climax to the year.
ITV commentator Tim Harvey told TCF his verdict on Jordan’s achievement, praising: “His coolness, his outright performance, his qualifying ability and his race ability. But Most of all, the fact that he just set out from the word go to win the championship, and he has had the right attitude all year.”
