Sam Tordoff has thanked his WSR team-mate Rob Collard for allowing him the chance to hunt a victory in the final British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) race at Silverstone.
Tordoff was fighting with Collard for a podium position in the final race of the day, whilst Team BMR’s Colin Turkington opened up a lead at the front of the field. Tordoff had to sit behind his team-mate for the first 18 laps of the race, whilst Turkington opened up a 2.6-second lead.
Collard let his younger team-mate through on lap 19, but Tordoff was unable to close the gap enough to the leading Volkswagen, eating into the lead by just one second over the following six laps.
Sportingly, Tordoff then gave second position back to Collard, allowing the team to take home a double podium in the final race of the day.
“For us both to end the day on the podium is fantastic for WSR and everyone involved with Team JCT600 with GardX,” said Tordoff. “It was a feisty scrap and I was grateful that Rob gave me the opportunity to fight for the lead.
“I’ve been really pleased with the pace of our BMWs and we actually could have scored even more points if things had fallen our way. It has been a good day though and we can go to Brands Hatch with renewed confidence.”
Like Tordoff, Collard’s podium added to a pair of points-scoring top-ten finishes achieved earlier in the day, leaving the BMW racer satisfied with his Silverstone efforts.
Indeed the 47-year-old had earlier told TouringCars.Net that he felt he could have won the final race of the day, but for an average start.
“We’re working together on behalf of Team JCT600 with GardX so it was important that we remained professional and brought the cars home,” said Collard of the team’s final race battle. “We battled hard, but fair, so I am delighted that both Sam and I got to enjoy this moment together on the podium.
“We knew Silverstone wouldn’t be our best track but the BMW was still strong and we scored a good haul of points – roll on Brands Hatch.”