Andrew Jordan endured a difficult weekend at Snetterton during rounds 16, 17 & 18 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship as his Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra struggled for pace.

Jordan managed just one point scoring finish from the three races, when he crossed the line ninth in race two, much less than he has come to expect this year.

Andrew knew that he would struggle for speed as soon as the first free practice session started on Saturday morning. He said: “We normally roll the car out for free practice and it is good from the start. But this weekend the car just felt completely different. ”

These difficulties were reflected in qualifying when Jordan failed to qualify in the top five for the first time this season and had to make do with 11^th on the grid for the opening race.

His aim to make up places early in the opening race was thwarted when Jason Plato and Matt Neal made contact and caused chaos as Neal spun across the front of the pack. Jordan said: “It all kicked off at Turn 2 on the first lap and I couldn’t make much progress.” As a result Jordan had to settle for finishing where he had started the race, 11^th.

The second race of the day saw Jordan make up two places on his starting position to finish ninth but he still lacked pace. He said: “In the second race I finished ninth, but it was a struggle to pass people I normally go by without too much of a problem.”

In the final race, a first lap clash with the West Surrey Racing BMW of Rob Collard resulted in Jordan spinning off on the opening lap and as a result he could only manage a 14^th place finish. Of the incident, Jordan said: “It was one of those things, really. From lap four to eight we were in the top four lap times, which was some encouragement. But we were really struggling against the Fords in a straight line and it was frustrating being caught behind Chilton.”

Now, the team will work to identify the problem with the car before the next three races at Knockhill over the weekend of September 3/4.

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (http://www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk/)

 

Tom Surgay is the Porsche Carrera Cup GB correspondant for 2011. Tom's currently studying English Language with Journalism at Huddersfield University. You can contact him at tom@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter @tsurgay.