Sam Tordoff hailed the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car meeting of the season an encouraging one at Donington Park for West Surrey Racing, the BMW outfit again solid challengers all weekend in Leicester.
Former MG driver Tordoff made progress on Sunday after qualifying eighth overall the previous day, climbing to fifth place in the opening race before improving from his grid position again to ninth in race two from a starting spot of 11th.
While team-mate Rob Collard also fought within the top 10 all weekend and held the lead of race three on two occasions, the Leeds racer himself was removed from the final race of the day after contact with Triple Eight’s Jack Goff, but he later sung praises of the reigning Teams’ Champions’ performance at Donington Park.
“In all three races this weekend I felt that we were really in amongst it”, Tordoff told The Checkered Flag afterwards, saying that the BMW appeared stronger in his hands on track than at Brands Hatch.
“Generally, the car was very good – much improved on Brands Hatch. I feel much more like we’re back in the race.
“As a team we’ve obviously done a very good job. Rob [Collard]’s collected three solid results after he struggled in qualifying yesterday, so we have plenty of pace in the car.”
Tordoff added that the BMW 125i handled the additional success ballast well all Sunday and enjoyed its run on the softer tyres more so than in the season opener, both of which look to be crucial factors this season.
He added: “We seemed to be good. In race two we carried weight but were going forward, then in race three we had the soft tyre and were going forward.
“We made good progress. I was happy with my results in races one and two, but unfortunately race three caught us out.”
Tordoff ended in the barriers in race three – Photo: Craig McAllister
The third race in question was the scene for numerous frenetic battles within the lead pack, which bunched up on lap six initially after contact between Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal. When the bottleneck reached the final chicane, contact from Goff’s MG6 GT spun Tordoff into the barriers, the latter affirming no blame on his rival.
“Jack came over and apologised to me” commented Tordoff. “Anyway, it wasn’t even him, it was whoever cleaned him out from behind. It’s not the way I wanted to end my weekend.”
Goff himself added on the incident: “I got a hit from behind, which locked us together and that was it, end of the race.
“I thought I was pretty safe on the inside and when everyone bunched up I thought it was getting a bit too tight, but I was a total passenger in that accident and I ended up in the gravel.”
Tordoff lies 11th in the Drivers’ Championship after the second meeting of the season, while WSR head to Thruxton third in the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship.
