Despite only clocking the 17th fastest time during the test session at the Season Launch for this years Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, Andrew Jordan expressed his happiness at the performance of both himself and Pirtek Racing as the Motorbase-run outfit brought their winter testing programme to a conclusion at Donington Park.
Jordan, who has made the switch to Dave Bartrum’s outfit following an inconsistent and frustrating year at MG Triple Eight Racing, explained that the focus of the team was on eliminating potential setup problems with the car as they look to put themselves in the optimum position to capitalise on the introduction of the new RML components after extensive pre-season mileage with the new kit.
“We had a list of things that we wanted to try on the car to see if they worked, and whilst they didn’t have the impact we hoped for, it was a good day for us on track because we could eliminate them from our thinking,” commented the 2013 champion.
“After going back to our base set-up, we had planned to do a run on new tyres towards the end of the day but with a number of red flags we didn’t get the chance, although I’m not concerned about it.
The Midlands-based driver was also in a pragmatic mood when reflecting on the significance of being at the bottom end of the timesheets at the annual Media Day.
“The fact is that there are no points for being fastest on Media Day and it was more important for us to just focus on what we wanted to do. In recent tests, we’ve made some really good progress and I think we have a car that should be strong in terms of one lap pace and across a race run when we get to Brands Hatch for the first round.
Commenting briefly of the end of an extensive winter testing programme that has seen both driver and car run both overseas and at a wide range of UK circuits, Jordan was optimistic about his position heading to Brands Hatch and couldn’t conceal his excitement as the new season draws closer.
“With our pre-season testing programme at an end, I feel we’re in good shape and I can’t wait for the real business to start.”