Sam Tordoff insists a British Touring Car Championship title charge is not out of the question after recording his best weekend in the series to date at Croft.
Tordoff lost out to team-mate Andy Priaulx in the weekend’s opening race after starting on pole, but made no mistake in the second race as he swept to a second win of the season, before completing his weekend with a sixth place on soft tyres with maximum ballast.
That gave the West Surrey Racing driver a weekend haul of 51 points – a personal best – and he now heads into the mid-season break in fourth place in the drivers’ championship.
Speaking to TouringCars.Net, Tordoff was delighted with his results, particularly after rounding his weekend off with a solid result despite carrying a less favourable package than his rivals.
“It was really good,” he exclaimed. “I got a good, strong points haul which was just what we wanted and it ended with a fantastic result on the soft tyre with 75 kilograms on board; to finish sixth and wrap it up like that was great – I’m really happy.”
Tordoff’s second win of the season was a lights to flag victory, with the 26 year-old starting on pole having set the fastest lap of anyone in race one.
And Tordoff was pleased with the manner in which he won the race – as he cantered to victory – and hoped the result had given his rivals something to think about.
“It was important – partly to show Andy [Priaulx] that I’m not a walkover. It worked really well and played into our hands. I got the gap so I didn’t have to really push, I could save the tyre just in case Jason ran away and charged.
“But overall it’s been a great points haul, a great result for the team – the first ever 1-2-3 and all three of us have won as well.”
As defending champions, WSR’s start to year had been a less than auspicious one, with the team enduring difficult meeting at Donington Park and Thruxton in particular.
But having accumulated important points during those tougher weekends, and with momentum on his side, Tordoff was confident that he would be able to mount a championship challenge in the second half of the season.
“It’s always nice when you have six weeks off following a result like that because you can be happy for that time,” he said. “But it also looks strong heading into the second half of the year now; I’m feeling in the groove with this car, I’m getting better with it all the time and we go to some tracks now which should really suit us.
“We should be good at Snetterton and after that we have Knockhill and Rockingham which are notoriously BMW-friendly circuits.
“I’m thinking a title challenge is not out of the question.”