High five for Andrew Jordan

16th June 2019

Andrew Jordan dominated Round 11 of the 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Croft to claim a hugely impressive fifth win of the season.

The BMW Pirtek Racing man made a good getaway from pole position and pulled a comfortable gap from the chasing pack, as a gaggle of cars lined up behind BTC Racing's Chris Smiley in second place.

Reigning champion Turkington eventually made it by Smiley's Honda and reeled in Jordan's sister 3 Series in the closing stages, but it wasn't enough to prevent his stablemate from taking yet another victory.

"A second double of the year!" enthused Jordan. "West Surrey Racing and BMW; they're the boys and girls. I knew it'd be hard and Colin (Turkington) would be strong and I went for it at the start. At the pace I was going, I knew he wouldn't catch me. It's easy to make mistakes and be greedy.

"My brother-in-law was here when I won my first race and he's just won Le Mans as a race engineer, we've come a long way! When I said it after race one, I really believed the win-double was there and we’ve managed it."

Turkington extended his advantage at the top of the standings with second place, also grabbing an extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

"Once again Croft proves to be a great track for BMW, and now for the new 3 Series," said Turkington. "We knew we'd have to do some learning but all three cars have been really fast. It's about scoring points as championship leader. You've got to keep your car towards the front end of the grid and that's what we've done.

"I knew when I passed Smiley I wanted to be fair and I just waited on a slight mistake. By that stage Andy (Jordan) was well up the road. There's only so much you want to risk in that situation."

BMW's chances of a podium clean sweep were dashed in the first big incident of the race as Tom Oliphant spun out of contention on the opening lap after running side-by-side with Dan Cammish's Honda through the Chicane.

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Cammish would eventually claim the final spot on the rostrum as he – and team-mate Matt Neal – made their way past Smiley's ballast-laden Honda Civic Type R.

"Scoring a podium at my home race is fantastic," beamed Cammish. "Given where I was 12 months ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of that. We've worked our way forward and I'm really happy for that. I'm not sure I've got an answer for the BMWs. I asked for their times over the radio and it wasn't good news."

Unfortunately worse was to come for the fading Smiley on the final lap as he tried to defend from Ash Sutton's Subaru Levorg. The pair had already touched at the Complex on the penultimate tour and it happened again on the run to the same corner, this time leaving Smiley's stealth grey machine tipping into the barrier just two corners from the end of the race.

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing's Sutton held fifth from a very lively Jason Plato, as the BTCC's most successful driver proves his return to the podium isn't far away.

Tom Ingram jumped two places in the closing stages as he passed BTC Racing's Josh Cook and the stricken car of Smiley to take seventh. 

Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher's Tom Chilton was muscled down the order and eventually finished ninth, but the Ford will start the final race in pole position, whilst Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat rounded out the top ten.

2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Round 11 – Croft Circuit

1 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing 15 laps
2 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +1.100s
3 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +11.543s
4 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +12.731s
Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +20.209s
6 Jason PLATO (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +20.753s
7 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Team Toyota GB with Ginsters +21.723s
8 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +22.119s
Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +22.401s
10 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +25.643s
11 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +26.297s
12 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +26.506s
13 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +26.965s
14 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +27.307s
15 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +31.083s
16 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +34.475s
17 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +35.987s
18 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +36.292s
19 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +36.473s
20 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +37.505s
21 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport +38.335s
22 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +38.876s
23 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +40.586s
24 Rob SMITH (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +44.381s
25 Michael CREES (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +53.676s
26 Mark BLUNDELL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +1m15.815s
27 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Racing +1m19.807s
28 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with Motorbase +1 lap
29 Jake HILL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +13 laps
30 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +15 laps

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