AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff believes the pace he produced on the official British Touring Car Championship test day at Brands Hatch has “reset expectations” for the upcoming season.
Tordoff topped the timesheets in both three-hour sessions, lapping just shy of Jack Goff’s 2018 pole lap in the morning test with a time of 48.087s.
He continued to set the pace in the afternoon before dipping below the 48-second mark with a 47.927s in the closing stages, blitzing the BTCC lap record for the Indy circuit which had previously been set by Tom Ingram’s 47.990s lap during qualifying in 2016.
Tordoff told TouringCars.Net that although the test day counts for little, the data collected is more relevant than in previous seasons by virtue of being held on the same circuit as the opening round as opposed to Donington Park.
“We’d rather be fast than not – we know it doesn’t count for anything – the real qualifying starts next week. But we’ve been fast all day, morning and afternoon,” said Tordoff.
“We’ve got some really good data. It’s a bit more relevant than normal, because the first round is here in just over a week’s time, which makes a change from previous years.
“We’re happy, it’s a good place to be. Rory [Butcher] is fast as well, the team is working well. I think today has just reset our expectations a little bit for what we can hope for next weekend.”
The 2016 runner-up has driven a variety of machinery in the championship – both front and rear-wheel drive – but believes the solid foundation and development work on the FK2 Honda Civic Type R makes it the best car out of the bunch.
He also noted the benefit of carrying over some of the Eurotech personnel – from whom AmD acquired the Hondas and the TBLs for this season – due to their familiarity with running the cars.
“It’s the best touring car I’ve ever driven, it’s as simple as that. It’s more refined, it’s had a lot of development work,” explained Tordoff.
“It’s quite old – let’s not forget – there’s a new Honda that has taken its place now but for me this version is still the fastest one here.
“So I think that’s just a case of the development that has gone on. [Team] Dynamics have clearly built a good car to start with, and then it’s gone on from there.
“I think some of the benefit of having some Eurotech people involved this year from previous years has helped – for them nothing has changed, it’s all just carried on the same. It’s all looking very positive.”
After claiming that the pace-setting lap times produced on the test day have “reset expectations” for the upcoming season, Tordoff believes that claiming the first series win for AmD Tuning is the goal for 2019.
“We’re fighting for poles and wins, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“You can’t do the lap time we’ve done today and then not expect to be up near the sharp end next weekend.
“So we’re going for that elusive first win for AmD!”
The opening round of the British Touring Car Championship will get underway at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit next weekend on the 6/7 April.