Team GardX Racing with Motorbase driver Sam Tordoff finally had the luck swing his way last weekend at Silverstone in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship when he scored pole position and a race victory.
Despite free practice not being the best for the twenty-nine year old, a raft of changes ahead of qualifying gave him fresh impetus to put in a confident lap.
An incredibly tight qualifying session was taking place, then the pink Ford Focus RS popped up at the top of the timesheets halfway through the session. Thankfully for Sam, there was no further improvement from any other driver and he took his first pole position since 2016.
It was also the first Ford RS branded pole position since 1990.
Race one couldn’t have gone better for both the Yorkshireman and Motorbase team-mate Tom Chilton as they took a dominant one-two finish. This race finally showing fans and pundits alike the promise of the Focus RS that they have been telling us about all season.
It was also Sam’s first victory in the BTCC since the second race at Rockingham in 2016.
Credit: Matt Sayle
With maximum ballast onboard, Sam had to drive a defensive race in order to score another podium position. Whilst drivers around him with less ballast dropped like a stone around him, Sam took third place at the flag in a great drive. Unbelievably it was only his second podium finish of the year.
Race three was tougher for the Yorkshireman as he was overtaken by lighter cars and he ultimately took a twelfth place finish and another strong amount of points.
Following this great weekend, Sam now appears in the top ten of the drivers standings. With the finale at Brands Hatch coming up, he’ll be aiming to stay there.
“1st pole, 1st win and a podium on full ballast – there are lots of positives to take away from this weekend.
“We’ve come away from here with a great points haul and finally got that monkey off our back with the first win in the bag.
“There’s a sense of relief for sure that we’ve finally delivered the perfect result in qualifying and then followed that up with the win and a podium.
“We came into the weekend not best pleased with how the season had gone, but this is what we’ve worked hard for. The car has been fast all year but we’ve not had the luck before now.
“But we delivered when it mattered and that’s what counts. We had a great win in race 1 and backed that up with the podium.”
