Andrew Jordan remained pragmatic about his chances of claiming a second British Touring Car Championship title, despite thinning down the deficit to standings leader Sam Tordoff by virtue of his victory in the middle race at Silverstone this afternoon.
The Pirtek Racing driver made a good start from the front row and piled the pressure on pole-sitter Tom Ingram, before relieving the Speedworks Motorsport driver of the lead into Becketts on lap seven with a bold move to the inside line.
Despite a late challenge from Adam Morgan’s Mercedes A-Class and the troubles a safety car stoppage throws up with regard to the softer compound Dunlop tyre, Jordan maintained his advantage to the chequered flag to put himself twenty-nine points adrift of the championship lead.
Speaking to TouringCars.net shortly after the race’s conclusion, Jordan admitted it was nice to get a victory, regardless of it’s permutations in the championship race and underlined that the title race isn’t his focus at the moment.
“We’ll see where we are at the end of the day. Twenty-nine points is still striking distance but anything can happen. I know that.” explained the 2013 champion.
“[I’ll] just drive it as hard as I can in this last race and see where I get to.”
Jordan initially attempted to pass Ingram at Luffield, a popular overtaking spot on the 1.64 mile National circuit, but Ingram resisted some light contact to maintain the lead, before Jordan pulled a breathtaking move on the inside at Becketts.
“I tried to just loosen him up a bit at Luffield and get him out of the way,” explained Jordan.
“I had a good run, I knew I was going to throw it up the inside, I just had to get it stopped. Good move, happy with it.”
Jordan was pleased to realise the Ford Focus ST’s pace around Silverstone, especially after cementing himself back in the front-running pack with his podium return at Rockingham.
He was pleased to use this pace to his advantage and secure a second victory of the season.
“I knew we had the grunt and the pace, and it’s nice to follow it through. With the soft tyre I was just a bit concerned, because I was looking after them and once the safety car came out I was just like ‘head down, get gone’.
“Normally it’s not as good, because it [the safety car] cools them down and then getting them back up to temperature grains them a bit, but [it was] fine.”