AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff says he needs to “kickstart” his 2019 campaign in the trio of British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park tomorrow [28 April], after scoring zero points last time out.
Tordoff showed promising pace in pre-season testing at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, but convert that into strong results after unforeseen issues hampered his weekend.
The 2016 runner-up told TouringCars.Net he is not dwelling on the season-opener, choosing instead to focus on scoring silverware at Donington Park to compensate for the start of the year.
“We need to kickstart our championship this time around. Obviously Brands [Hatch] was a disappointment – we had some problems with the car that we couldn’t have foreseen and that ruined the whole weekend,” said Tordoff.
“But let’s not get too disheartened. We’ve got a good car, we’ve got a good team. We’re fast and we’ve proven it today.
“We need points on the board so the first goal for tomorrow is to get on the podium – whatever step it is, that’ll be a good start.”
After a mixed qualifying with predominantly dry but often drizzly and windy conditions, Tordoff was pleased to be at the sharp end in good shape for the opening race.
“Today was a strange session, you never really felt like you maximised anything with the drizzle in the air and the lap times being a little bit off the dry pace,” he said.
“But it was the same for everyone, you’ve just got to hang on and put the lap together.
“I’m pleased with where we’re starting – fifth on the inside – near the front with no weight, so we’ll just have to try and maximise it and build from there.”
Tordoff noted the irony that the majority of winter testing was completed in sunny conditions, while the opening rounds have so far brought rain.
He was, however, pleased to be able to run the slick tyre for the first time this weekend during qualifying, as it will be closer to the predicted dry conditions in tomorrow’s races.
“It’s funny, all pre-season we’ve had some great weather! It’s only when we turned up at Brands Hatch and now round two where it’s all gone a bit horrible,” Tordoff said.
“So I’m not sure what that says about the March and April weather in England! But we’ve got a good base underneath is, we know we’re not too far away.
“Obviously we got to run the slick tyre in qualifying, which we hadn’t done in free practice, so that give us a bit of an understanding on the balance for tomorrow. I think we’ll just make some small tweaks tonight to compensate with that.”
The opening BTCC race at Donington Park is scheduled to get underway at 11:35 BST tomorrow [28 April].