West Surrey Racing’s Sam Tordoff was relieved to have scored his first British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) win in a rear-wheel drive car in the final race at Oulton Park.
Tordoff took his third win in the BTCC from the front row of the grid, inheriting the lead from Adam Morgan after the WIX Racing driver was forced to serve a drive-through penalty.
The Yorkshireman’s win complemented the points finishes he earned in the days first two races, where he scored a ninth and a fifth, marking a weekend of steady improvement for Tordoff, who had qualified in 11th position on Saturday.
Having had a difficult start to the season, with only one podium finish prior to the fourth meeting in Cheshire, Tordoff hailed the win as a ‘much needed’ boost for himself and his team.
“We really needed that on this side of the garage,” said the Team JCT600 with GardX driver. “I’ve said right from the start of the year that my expectations have been very high this year and to be honest we’ve not got up to speed as quickly as I’d hoped at the first few meetings. Getting on the top step for a new team is very special and it shows how far we progressed over this weekend.”
Having got his first win of the season under his belt, Tordoff is keen to continue his form at the next round at Croft, where the rear-wheel drive cars, and the BMW in particular, have always performed strongly.
“The BMW was handling brilliantly, and while there are still some issues to overcome we’ve shown that if we can get to the front we’ve got the pace to win races. That’s what I need to keep doing now, we should be strong at Croft and it’s my home track, so I can’t wait to get racing again!”
Tordoff moves up to seventh in the drivers’ championship as a result of his win, 56 points adrift of leader Jason Plato.