Andrew Jordan says he is heading into this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship event at Oulton Park ‘expecting to be challenging for pole position and race wins’ as he seeks to continue a run of four wins out of six races.
The BMW Pirtek Racing driver hauled himself back into outright title contention last time out at Croft with another double win in races one and two, also claiming his first qualifying pole in five years.
The 2013 champion thus heads to Cheshire just 26 points adrift of team-mate Colin Turkington at the top of the table, although he now has to carry 36 kg of success ballast as a result of moving up the ranking.
“Oulton Park has been one of my strongest circuits in recent seasons, and I love it,” said Jordan. “We need to hold our expectations in-check, but I do go to Oulton expecting to challenge for pole position and race wins – and if we can’t win, we need to keep bagging points.
“Yes, ballast has a greater effect than at most places, but I’ve won races on full weight this season, so it’s not something I think about.
“We’ve found the sweet spot with the new 3 Series, and the confidence level is sky-high. I think we are the strongest package on the grid right now, so we need to use that positive momentum to keep moving forwards.”
WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts pointed to the team’s podium lockout result last season as a reason to remain confident about the rear-wheel drive car’s prospects at Oulton Park.
“AJ and the whole team have been in terrific form recently, qualifying well when his car was light, and still being able to succeed when his car’s had full ballast in race two,” said Bennetts.
“We managed a 1-2-3 finish at Oulton last year with the BMW 1 Series, and the new 3 Series should be a little better-suited to the fast corners here, so even with the ballast he carries, he should be capable of qualifying and racing well.”