Andrew Jordan will be aiming for a second BTCC title
(Photo from: www.btcc.net)
In this eight part series I will be looking at each of the eight drivers who have a mathematical chance of winning the 2016 British Touring Car Championship. The third part will be on sixth placed Andrew Jordan.
For the 2016 season, Jordan switched to Motorbase following a single season with the factory backed Triple 8 MG team. A lot was expected when Jordan joined the team, after the Ford Focus showed huge amounts of pace in the second half of the season, after the team only contested from Snetterton onwards. In this time Mat Jackson won a staggering four races.
The deal was announced soon after the 2015 season ended and like 2015 Jordan has been a quiet contender throughout, never overdriving and consistently scoring points. Throughout the season Jordan has only finished outside the points once, a DNF in the third round at Thruxton being his only blemish after a left rear puncture, and has achieved two race victories, after not winning at all for MG.
The season started positively for Jordan with an eleventh and two fourth places at Brands Hatch, evidently showing the Ford Focus had carried the pace over from 2015. However Donington was Jordan’s one poor round of the season, despite being able to score in all three races, a fourteenth, twelfth and tenth in the three races would not have been what he hoped for going into the weekend. A mistake in qualifying which left him in 25th place really cost him, an error on a drying track which he may look back on.
However come Thruxton and Jordan was back to the same scintillating form which we became so accustom to in the pre MG days. A third in the first race having started from eighth was followed by his first win since Croft 2014, an emotional moment for both him and father Mike. A DNF in race three is so far Jordan’s only non score of the season.
Another three consistent points finishes at Oulton Park followed, having started from twelfth he finished the first race tenth, which was followed up by to eighth place finishes in the second and third races of the day.
Croft was another strong weekend for Jordan, again in changeable conditions, an area Jordan is an expert in. Despite being a circuit known to aide cars with rear wheel drive, Jordan started from eighth and quietly made up places to fifth. Ninth in race two was followed by his second fifth of the day in changeable conditions, as it started to rain heavier and heavier throughout the race.
Following the summer break it was time for Snetterton and once again Jordan found himself at the rear of the field, this time due to a power steering fault leaving him watching qualifying from the sidelines. A fourteenth in the first race was followed by another in the second, after the race was shortened due to a major first lap crash. Jordan made it up to fifth in the final race of the day, again a shortened encounter this time because of a start line crash.
Since Snetterton, Jordan has only failed to finish outside the top ten once, the final race at Rockingham which preceded Jordan’s third podium of the season. His second second place in three races occurred at Silverstone before going one better and achieving victory number two in Race 2. An eighth in Race 3 rounded of Jordan’s best weekend of the season and set him up nicely for the championship finale this weekend.
Jordan has gone about this season quietly in a very fast car scoring points consistently and giving him a slim chance of a second title. He may feel that despite his achievements this season, he should have been higher up the order. However in such a competitive season, I feel that Jordan can be nothing but proud.