Sam Tordoff says a green track surface made his Motorbase-run Ford Focus RS ‘lively’ during the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session of 2018.
The 2016 runner-up went fifth quickest in the forty minute session this morning, 0.148 seconds behind eventual pace-setter Tom Ingram in the changeable conditions.
Speaking to TouringCars.net, the former WSR and MG racer expects the circuit to evolve over the course of the weekend and correct the issue, citing rainfall and last weekend British Truck Racing Championship meeting as contributing factors to the issues he experienced.
“The track is very green at the moment, there’s been a lot of overnight rain and chances of showers today and tomorrow,” explained Tordoff.
“I believe there was some truck racing here last weekend, which always makes a mess of the track, so we need to wait for the circuit to clean up a bit.
“The car was very lively and all over the place, but I don’t think it’s the car – it’s the track. As long as it evolves as we expect it to do so today, I think we’ll be fine.”
He also praised Motorbase for their attention to detail over the winter period on his new challenger, and believes there is some merit to the testing times in terms of determining where they stand on pace compared to their rivals.
“I’m feeling very good. Motorbase have done a lot of work on this car over the winter, it’s a completely different beast.
“You never really know where you are until you get to the first race meeting,” he added “And the honest answer is we won’t truly know until qualifying, but FP1 is a good leveller because everyone has to start on a brand-new set of tyres, because of how the regulations are set, there aren’t any carry-overs from last season, but that’s an early indication of where we think we might stand up and clearly that’s positive.”
The six-time race winner is aiming for a hat-trick of top ten finishes at Brands Hatch this weekend as he starts his first race in the category since 2016.
“Three top ten finishes is the minimum [for me to be happy this weekend].
“We need to score points and then move on from there – if we’re not in the top six or seven in the championship leaving here tomorrow, then for me it’s a bad weekend.”