BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan reflected on the Snetterton weekend as being a ‘missed opportunity’ despite closing in on the lead of the British Touring Car Championship standings.
Jordan was the top BMW qualifier throughout the weekend, bagging 11th and sixth place respectively in qualifying for races one and three.
But he found himself unable to make significant progress in those races, even slipping to 12th in the wet weather in the first race of the day on Sunday.
Race two saw Jordan make the most progress, moving from 12th to ninth in the drying conditions for the second encounter.
His biggest points haul came in the ‘diamond double’ race three though, where the 29-year-old took 26 points – his biggest in one race this year – for finishing just off the podium in fourth.
As a result, Jordan has moved to 32 points from the top of the table despite finishing outside the top ten for the first time since April.
“The big positive from today is that I’ve closed in on the lead of the championship, which is all I can hope for on a day as tough as today when the weather conditions were constantly changing,” said Jordan.
“As a team, we haven’t quite had the pace on race day with the changeable conditions and in race one in particular, it was damage limitation on the wets.
“Finding the right set-up for the conditions was always going to be tough and so we chose to compromise to cover our bases. We got more towards the sweet spot as the day went on.
“The BMW was singing in race three when the rain came; if it had got a little wetter at that stage, I really think a win was possible, but instead it dried out and I focused on banking the points for fourth.”
Jordan is hoping that carrying 9 kg less weight for Rockingham – as he is joint fifth in the standings – will help at a circuit where he has won three times, including in BMW machinery last year.
“We lose some weight for Rockingham next out and we have to go there focused on pushing for podiums to bring the points gap down again.
“Although I think there is an element of this weekend being a missed opportunity because of the conditions that the weather threw at us, we’re moving in the right direction in the title race.”