Tordoff triumphs from tenth in race two at Rockingham

Tordoff takes Jackson (photo by Marc Waller)

Tordoff takes Jackson (photo by Marc Waller)Sam Tordoff has won the second BTCC race of the day at Rockingham after an amazing drive in his Team JCT600 with GardX BMW.

Starting tenth after his great race one, he continued his charge into this race, passing several cars in the opening laps.

At the races halfway point he was up to third with the two Motorbase Focus of Jordan and Jackson in second and first.

Jordan was the first target and Tordoff dispatched him quite quickly before moving onto then leader Jackson. On lap nine he passed him too and took an impressive win. He was overjoyed at the win which he hadn’t expected after the team’s nightmare qualifying on Saturday;

“Fair play to the team because once again my engineer John made a big call with setup and it transformed the car – it was absolutely beautiful,” said a happy Tordoff. “It was probably my most enjoyable race ever. I could put the car wherever I wanted and after yesterday it’s a fantastic turnaround.”

He continued;

“I’ve become better at parking reservations to one side and concentrating on the driving, telling the guys it would be okay. The Fords knew what was coming. Fair play to them, they knew they were in a different race to me. Race three’s damage limitation. The hard tyre with 75kgs doesn’t bode well but we’ll take what we can get, hopefully a top 10.”

Jackson then found he had Tordoff’s team mate Collard behind him. Collard had also charged through the field. But team mate Jordan was first to pass him to take second, leaving the ballast laiden Jackson as a sitting duck for the charging Collard.

“We thought there might be a win on with Mat [Jackson] on more weight,” said Jordan. “I could see him struggling and with Sam’s [Tordoff] pace, I didn’t fight it too much. We had the call to make the right decision and play nicely. We’re clever boys and we know we don’t need to be fighting too hard.

“Mat’s fighting for championship points and it’s a good result really for the team and our sponsors. Up until a couple of laps from the end I was eking out time on Rob [Collard] but he made it really close right at the end.”

Ashley Sutton was fifth again for MG but Josh Cook was out of contention at the hairpin on the first lap after contact with Plato sent him spearing into the side of Jack Goff’s BMW. Plato was out on the spot but Goff initially continued.

Tordoff is already fifth after the hairpin on the first lap (photo by Marc Waller) Deja Vu as Shedden and Jackson intially battle for the lead (photo by Marc Waller) Celebration for Tordoff (photo by Marc Waller) Tordoff family photo (photo by Marc Waller) Podium (photo by Marc Waller)

 

 

 

Jack Goff is having a nightmare weekend. His hospitality awning was destroyed in the storm winds on Saturday and after some points for twelfth in race one things fell apart. After the contact with Cook he struggled on but more contact with BKR’s Mark Howard a few laps later saw him out for good after his suspension gave in from the double impact!

Matt Neal kept his consistent points scoring run on track with sixth ahead of BKRs Aron Smith. The Irishmen’s VW CC seems to be going much better at Rockingham after dropping away from the front runners in recent rounds. Smith was then drawn on the reverse grid pole for race three and will be going for his first win of the year and the team’s first win ever!

The Wix Racing and Laser Tools Racing Mercedes fought over eighth place with Adam Morgan’s Wix Machine eventually staying ahead of Aiden Moffat’s similar car.
Gordon Shedden was unable to repeat his race one pace now he had maximum success ballast and tenth was the best he could salvage.

2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 23 – Rockingham:
1 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX 22m44.838s (81.87 mph)
2 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +2.886s
3 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +3.085s
4 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +6.863s
5 Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +15.027s
6 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +18.661s
7 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +21.341s
8 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +22.624s
9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +25.489s
10 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +28.536s
11 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +29.025s
12 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +29.937s
13 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +30.221s
14 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +30.742s
15 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +37.517s
16 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +45.687s
17 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +46.268s
18 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +46.474s
19 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +46.775s
20 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +1:11.838s
DNF Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +1 laps
NC Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +5 laps
NC Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +6 laps
DNF Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +12 laps
DNF Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +12 laps
DNF Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +14 laps
DNF Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +15 laps
DNF Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +15 laps
DNF Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +16 laps
DNF Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +16 laps

By Marc Waller

 

Written by