BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan closed the gap at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings at Knockhill by claiming his sixth win of the season.
The 30-year-old moved to within 10 points of WSR stablemate Colin Turkington while also helping BMW increase their advantage in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
“It’s been a good weekend for BMW Pirtek Racing and Andrew,” commented Team Principal Dick Bennetts. “He qualified well with weight on-board and then backed it up with fantastic performances in Races One and Two, especially the latter for his sixth win of the season. It was unfortunate that his third race ended through no fault of his own, but he has closed the gap in the standings heading into the final two events.”
Chasing a record-equalling fourth BTCC title, the ballast-laden Turkington (Team BMW) converted his sixth-place start into fourth in Race One.
Turkington’s aspirations of a podium in Race Two were squashed after unnecessary contact from a championship rival dropped him down the order and left him to fight back to 19th.
Scything through the field in the reversed-grid encounter, the three-time champion capped off his weekend with a gritty drive to claim 10th at the chequered flag.
Arriving north of the border carrying 48kg success ballast through practice and qualifying, Jordan kicked off the weekend by making his mark on Saturday as he powered his way to third place on grid for the opening encounter.
The 2013 champion came agonisingly close to victory in a pulsating first race as he jumped into second off the line and then proceeded to hound leader Rory Butcher all the way to the chequered flag, clawing back critical points in the championship battle.
Jordan’s latest triumph of 2019 came in commanding style as he took the lead at the start and broke clear in Race Teo, despite running on the medium tyre and laden with weight.
Starting race three in 10 following the reversed-grid draw, Jordan was unable to capitalise on again starting ahead of his main title rivals as, when trying to avoid a spinning car in front of him, he unfortunately became beached in the gravel, ending his race.
The British Touring Car Championship next heads to Silverstone on September 28/29 for the penultimate event of the 2019 season.
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