Andrew Jordan declared himself to be pleased with his first week of testing for new team WSR, as he prepares for another change of machinery in the 2017 British Touring Car Championship.
Jordan completed three days of testing at Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Silverstone on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday respectively last week.
The car ran in an interim livery for the testing, with the full Pirtek colour scheme to be revealed in the new year.
The tests provided a valuable first step into the world of racing a rear-wheel drive touring car for 2013 champion Jordan, who is changing teams for the third time in as many seasons.
“I’m really pleased with how it’s gone this week with WSR and the BMW,” said Jordan. “From day one at Brands Hatch it felt very user-friendly and it didn’t take me very long to feel at home – despite some changeable weather.
“You can really feel the level of engineering that’s gone into the 125i M Sport and that’s made things much easier to adapt to – especially as I’m also learning a rear-wheel-drive touring car after spending my entire BTCC race career with front-wheel-drive.
“It’s also been great to start working with the engineers and mechanics and start building relationships with everybody in the team.”
“If I’m being honest, it’s gone better than I thought it would do at this stage. When you are starting your testing programme at this time of year, you never know what the weather will throw at you, so to get one wet day and then two in the dry has been perfect.
“It’s allowed me to gain a good early understanding of the car in different conditions and it didn’t take long to feel comfortable behind the wheel.”
WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts emphasised the importance to Jordan of getting the testing miles under his belt before Christmas, with weather conditions likely to deteriorate following the holiday season.
“It will hopefully pay off when you can start your winter testing programme before Christmas,” said Bennetts. “To have three days of solid running this week and give Andrew some experience at three different circuits with the BMW is definitely going to benefit him and the team.
“The car is still in 2016 trim, as we still have to convert it to use all of the mandatory components for next season, but we’re not far off and this week has helped us to see where we are and given us lots of very useful data to analyse.”