Sam Tordoff says he ‘needs to go back to the drawing board’ after a frustrating weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, where the Motorbase driver once again failed to reach the podium.
Tordoff secured a solid eighth on the grid for the first of Sunday’s races, although his pace in the ballast-free second qualifying session could only give him 16th for the diamond double.
The Yorkshireman then made progress in the wet in race one to take fifth, which he followed up with sixth in the second race, unable to challenge for the podium positions.
However damage sustained in race three on the fifth lap put paid to Tordoff’s drive, leaving him with a non-finish at a circuit where he took his first win in 2013.
“It’s a bit disappointing really,” admitted Tordoff, who is nevertheless still in the top ten in the drivers’ championship standings in tenth. “We’ve lacked pace this weekend, which is the first time this year and we still don’t know why.
“We were fast in the wet in race one and we carried that forward in race two in the dry on the soft tyre, but then in the third equal weight race we were nowhere.
“I got a great start from 16th to 11th and it was looking good, but I didn’t have any pace in the car so was immediately on the back foot and struggling to fight. We then got contact which broke the left rear and that was the end of that.”
Tordoff is hoping that another test in his Ford Focus RS will help him to move further up the field for the next round at Rockingham in just under two weeks’ time.
“We need to go away and back to the drawing board. We have a test planned this week so hopefully we can put a few things into practice there.
“All things considered, fifth and sixth was a good result. Race three was more reflective of our pace and unfortunately the damage comes with the territory of being in that mid pack.”