Andrew Jordan had a dominant Saturday for the third British Touring Car Championship meeting of the season at Thruxton, and aims to finally break his duck on Sunday after claiming a third consecutive pole position at the Hampshire track he always enjoys.
The reigning champion lowered Yvan Muller’s 2002 lap record with his second pole position of the 2014 season, completing a sweep of all the Saturday sessions as he leads a Honda sweep of the top three spots ahead of Yuasa Racing‘s Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.
Speaking to The Checkered Flag after his 1m16.192s effort, a beaming Jordan commented: “It was good; there were a couple of little areas where I didn’t think I’d quite nailed it in practice two, so to go out and do a 1m16.1s I’m over the moon with. And it’s a new record since 12 years ago.”
The rapid and flowing Thruxton venue is one that the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic driver particularly enjoys, and feels confident that he can finally break his victory duck in Sunday’s trio of races.
“I love this place, it’s a track where you can really rag the backside off it and see what I can do”, he added. “You’ve got to have some confidence and experience to go quick around here.
“I think we’ve got a good race car for tomorrow as well. 36kg could still take its toll in the races, but last year I nearly made it so it shouldn’t be a major worry.”
Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Chased by the works Honda Civic Tourers of Neal and Shedden, Red Bull Athlete Jordan intends to avoid a repeat of the cruel last-lap puncture that denied him race one victory here last year, the scenario likely to be dictated by the start.
“It would be nice to get a great jump and clear off. I’ll want to stay away from the kerbs more I think; last year I stayed off them for about three laps, so I’ll probably stay off them for about four or five.
“Obviously the other Hondas will be quick, and the slipstream round here is hard to break a tow. We’ve just got to wait and see, if any of them make the jump on me at the start then I’d probably see what their tyres are like. You get a feeling what your car and your tyres are like during the race.
“We’ve been dominant today, but let’s hope that we can be dominant tomorrow!”
