Sam Tordoff described his weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill as ‘a bit of déjà vu’ after he once again came close to, but missed out on, a first podium of the season.
With Tordoff seeking to climb the podium for the first time this year, his task was hindered by only having the pace to qualify his Ford Focus in 16th on the grid on Saturday.
That left the Yorkshireman only able to secure 17th in the wet opening race, with visibility not helping Tordoff’s task of moving forwards.
Race two turned out to be even wetter, although the Motorbase driver was able to end the race classified in 11th, helped by the exclusion of the leading two drivers, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram, after the race.
When the rain eased for the final encounter, Tordoff was able to make more passes and finished in fifth.
The results left the 29-year-old feeling frustrated though, as his qualifying speed highlighted a lack of pace and despite making progress on Sunday he was still unable to secure a podium finish. As a result, Tordoff has slipped to 11th overall in the drivers’ championship.
“Overall it’s been another frustrating weekend yet again,” said Tordoff. “We weren’t fast enough on Saturday in qualifying and we paid the price on Sunday because whilst we had a good car in the wet, we were just embroiled in a fight constantly in all three races.
“We didn’t get to the bottom of the car in the dry and we didn’t have the chance to correct that on race day as it was so wet.
“Visibility was terrible, and everyone was defending like their life depended on it, so it was very difficult to make any progress in the first two races.
“Race three was some consolation and we got the chance to show the pace of the car a little bit with a clear track. The car was much more competitive, and we managed to come forward and get some points out of it. It’s just a bit of déjà vu of what could have been again.”
After two difficult weekends in a row, where Tordoff has only salvaged double-figure points finishes with race three drives, he is looking forward to Silverstone to demonstrate his speed.
“On paper Silverstone is supposed to be our best track of the year so we have high expectations heading there and we need to deliver.
“We’ve got six races left so that’s six opportunities to grab a win or podium at the very least. We’ve still not managed to tie-up a strong qualifying and race day together this season. Silverstone seems the best place to do that.”