Andrew Jordan: I struggle to see why the BTCC is like this
Andrew Jordan
I’ll be honest, I’m feeling a bit s***.
The weekend started off looking quite good. The car felt absolutely brilliant in FP1 in the wet – it was awesome straight out of the box. Changeable conditions in FP2 meant that everyone was out on different tyres, therefore times were somewhat irrelevant. We scrubbed some slicks in but the car still felt pretty good.
Qualifying, that was a nightmare. We missed the boat in terms of setting a decent time and ended up down in 16th on the grid. It wasn’t a representative time, but in realistic terms I think we only could have hoped for a top six. We just weren’t on Colin [Turkington]’s pace so pole was not really on the cards.
We made a few changes overnight and we were ready to make progress across the three races on Sunday. Looking at the pace of both Colin and Tom [Oliphant, both in sister WSR BMW 3 Series] in that first race, we should have made some really good ground across the weekend.
Sitting on the grid I looked around thinking that I’ll be lucky to get through lap one unscathed, but once we’re past that things should settle down. To do that I had to get through lap one, though…
Going through Redgate was good, and through the top of the Craner Curves everything seemed to go well, giving plenty of room and following Jason Plato through a couple of gaps. I gave everyone space going into the Old Hairpin but then felt a tap on the rear, which spun me round coming out of the right hander. I then had a nudge on the front which sent me round the other way before Adam Morgan’s car had nowhere to go other than flat out into my driver’s door.
The cage did its job – it came in a bit but it didn’t split – and it’s already a bare shell; it’s off having the new bodywork fitted as we speak.
Having got home from the hospital I put race three on the TV, and it was off after one lap. It was just embarrassing – the driving standards at Donington were just appalling.
It’ll be easy for everyone to think that I’m complaining because I had a bad day, but take my crash out of the equation: it was still an awful weekend in terms of driving standards.
I’m not talking about rubbing. If I get rubbed out of the way then, yeah, I’ll be a little bit annoyed, but I’ll give as good as I get – I’ve done this championship for 12 years and I know how to play the game. I’m talking about the big crashes, the big punts out the way that we saw all too much of at Donington Park.
We were given a big bulletin about driving standards at Brands Hatch, where if the car behind is not at the B-pillar, then the car in front has the right of way. I gave room but got hit at the right rear, well behind the B-pillar, and it was deemed a ‘racing incident’. BMW wanted to appeal and I went along with that, but it doesn’t help with the repairs I have to fund, and it certainly doesn’t make me feel any better after the crash.
I’ve heard a lot of people say “that’s what happens when you qualify in the pack”. Why? It shouldn’t matter where I qualify. This is supposed to be the top championship in Britain, yet the driving standards are abysmal.
If I were going down the Craners on Sunday in old Minis with Nick Swift, Nick Padmore and Ian Curley all side by side, I’d have felt much more comfortable than I did going wheel to wheel with the pack in the BTCC. Just look at Ash Sutton, Matt Neal and Rob Huff in the Cortinas at the Revival. That was wheel-to-wheel, but respect was given.
I really struggle to see why the BTCC is like it is – it was just embarrassing to be involved with.
Looking ahead to Thruxton, we should be strong. Looking at my pace at Brands and Colin’s pace at Donington, then we should be in for a good weekend.
People may be saying “oh the Championship isn’t over yet”. I’m not even thinking about it. We’re only two rounds in and it’s far too early to talk about it. We should be able to challenge for pole and wins at Thruxton, and I’m just going to take it race by race from here on in.
BTCC
Andrew Jordan
BMW
