Andrew Jordan battled his way to seventh place in qualifying for the second British Touring Car Championship round at Donington Park, a result he was content with having carried maximum success ballast.
The Pirtek Racing man was weighed down by the 45kg of penalty ballast for leading the championship after his double win at Brands Hatch to open his title defence in the best manner possible, eventually salvaging seventh place in the 30-minute qualifying session.
Jordan, a winner at this circuit twice in his BTCC career, was still satisfied with his performance despite the hindrance of the ballast in his Honda Civic, which he said potentially ruled him out of the battle for pole position.
“I’m still happy with that”, Jordan told The Checkered Flag after qualifying. “I’m happy considering we are carrying 45 kilos around with us.
“45 kilos is a lot; It will be worth around half a second, so I’m happy with the lap that I managed, but I don’t think we could really have challenged for pole in the end.
“It’s the way it goes; at some point during the season somebody else will have to carry the same amount of weight.”
Understanding the importance of consistency, particularly with the 2014 season seeing one of the most closely-contested fields in recent years, Jordan aims to steer clear of any race one troubles from seventh on the grid.
On the importance of a clean opening race on Sunday, Jordan added: “Exactly. Once we’ve got some weight off the car after race one then we can really go for it in race two and give them a fight.”
