Andrew Jordan says he will ‘play on consistency’ after capping his BMW debut with a win in the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship opener at Brands Hatch.
The Pirtek Racing man charged from third on the grid in race three to the front after a rapid launch, fending off the attack of BMW team-mate Colin Turkington in a late tussle.
Jordan’s early BMW success was one that matched his expectations coming into the weekend, hopeful of matching the consistency that took him to the overall Drivers’ Championship back in 2013.
Brimming afterwards, Jordan told The Checkered Flag “I had a feeling that we would be strong and could get a win this weekend.
“I’m in a good place and working well with the team. My starts weren’t as good as they should be though. John, my engineer, has clicked with me so I’m in a very happy place.
“I’ve got something to fight with, so I feel great. I’ll be a factor in this championship. I can play on consistency after a good first round like that.”
The final race saw Jordan on the harder Dunlop tyre compound compared to Turkington’s softer option, a decision that made Jordan’s battle tougher.
“I knew we could win that last race. Colin was on the softs; we went a different way on set-up, but when he cleared Tom [Chilton] I thought ‘that’s alright’. A few laps later I thought ‘he’s coming on really strong’, so two laps from the end I thought I’d go defensive.
“We had some good hard racing, but I don’t know how much longer I could hold him off. He was strong where I was weakest which meant it was about getting it stopped heading into Clearways. He got underneath and nibbled at me on the last lap, but backed out of it.”
Added to a pair of sixth-place finishes, the win moves Jordan to third in the championship and with important mileage in his pocket ahead of the Donington visit on 15/16 April.
“I’ve got good mileage in a race scenario now”, he said. “You can do all the testing for a race distance in the world, but that’s nothing compared to when you’ve got somebody shoved right up your a*se.
