Sam Tordoff hailed an ‘amazing’ weekend at Oulton Park after the Team JCT600 with GardX driver claimed his fifth career win in the British Touring Car Championship and wrestled the lead of the overall championship from the hands of three-time winner Matt Neal.
He was unable to prevent Colin Turkington from securing the first win for a Subaru model in the BTCC during race one, nor stop a lighter Neal escape up the road in the third encounter, but Tordoff kept a consistent head throughout the weekend and, in a near-perfect display, picked up an astonishing 58 points to soar into the lead of the championship.
The results are ominous as the championship heads next to Croft, traditionally a circuit well-suited to the rear-wheel drive BMW 125i M-Sport in the hands of Tordoff. Last season at the Yorkshire venue, West Surrey Racing claimed all three race wins with each of their drivers taking one apiece in a dominating performance.
Reflecting on a productive weekend to say the least in Cheshire, Tordoff admits that he never imagined he would come away from the 2.2 mile Island circuit at the top of the pile and struggled to find words to summarize his positive feelings about his weekends work.
“It’s been an amazing weekend. To be honest, I’m a bit lost for words with how well it’s gone. We came here targeting a big points haul to move up the standings, but never in my wildest dreams did I think we would do as well as we have done.” he commented.
Tordoff also believes that the key to his strong weekend was the cars performance in qualifying on Saturday afternoon. A number of gradient changes, combined with the tight nature of the Oulton Park venue, mean that starting in a good grid slot is as important as ever, something Tordoff maximized to the full.
Being so hard to overtake at Oulton, qualifying was the key to our weekend,” he mused.
“Starting third on the grid for race one made our life a lot easier. The car was quick both with and without ballast on-board and to come away with a victory and two second places is just phenomenal.”
Looking briefly ahead to the triple header at Croft in just under a fortnights time, Tordoff believes he is in a strong position to make good on his recent form and consolidate his lead at the head of the standings.
“To be going to my home circuit of Croft – a track where the BMW has always excelled – as championship leader is fantastic.”