Andrew Jordan: I probably won't be in the BTCC next year

Our first lap was bang on the pace, and straight away I knew we were in the ballpark. Straight out of the box we were up there and set the fourth fastest time in the session. The car was feeling great, so we tried a couple of different things in FP2, and they weren’t quite right, still managed 9^th at the end of the session, and was looking forward to putting in a good time in qualifying.

The first ten minutes of qualifying went really well, we were ahead of Colin, which is where we needed to be to try and claw away at his lead in the championship standings, and we were sitting pretty in 4^th at the time of the red flag. After the red flag, we waited a little while Colin went straight out, and benefited from a slipstream, which saw him jump us, ending with Colin 5^th and myself on 7^th.

I could’ve done with him being a bit further down, but we were in a good position to try and maximise everything from the weekend. I wasn’t going to go balls-out and risk anything this weekend, though, we just needed a good, solid points haul.

Race one went well, I had a good race with Jason Plato and came out in fifth by the time of the chequered flag – just one place behind Colin, which I wasn’t unhappy with.

Both Colin and I were running the soft tyre in race two, and we both got a great start to find ourselves second and third behind Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla. The car felt great, but I felt that Colin was being a bit too patient with Tom, and I was starting to get pressure from Dan Cammish and the rest of the chasing pack behind. I got on the radio saying that he needed to get a move on, and that next lap he made his move.

Either there was a slight run between the two, or Tom ran out wide, but I had started a move around the outside and it just forced me out on to the grass. Despite passing Ingram, I stayed in third as Cammish jumped through while I was out wide and Colin ran off with the win. The incident was a bit of a warning and I didn’t want to try and big risks after that, just keep it on the road and rack up the points.

A podium is good, but it felt like a missed opportunity. I genuinely felt we had a chance at the win, and I was pretty frustrated at the fact I’d missed out – I was okay about ten minutes later, but it’s incredibly frustrating, especially as we need to start clawing back points to Colin.

Race three saw us wearing the hard tyre, which was the worst tyre of the day. We had to try and make hay while we could, and to end the race 5^th [6^th on the road but promoted after penalties for Jason Plato] with Colin back in 10^th was as good a result as we could have hoped for. There were a couple of occasions where I let people behind me on the soft tyre through, it just wasn’t worth risking losing time, or being pushed off the track, when it was clear they were going to be getting through anyway. If it was the last lap it would have been different, but with six or seven laps to go, it’s just not worth the risk.

At the end of the day, Colin extended his lead in the championship by three points. When you look over the course of the season, I just need Colin to have a terrible weekend in order to try and catch up from my non-scoring weekend at Donington Park. From a team perspective obviously we don’t want that to happen, but from a purely selfish position that’s the only way I’m going to have a chance at the title this year.

With that said, I’m not settling for second, and I’m not keeping an eye on the positions behind me, I’m just trying to get as many good points as we can and I want to just stay in touch. The next round is at Thruxton, where I took two wins earlier in the year, and that was coming off the Donington weekend, so I’m in a much more confident state of mind now!

Even with the gap to Colin, it’s great to be fighting for the title with a car that’s really dialled in. I’m enjoying this season, which I’m really happy about as it’s looking incredibly likely that I won’t be on the grid next year.

I’ve had a great run in the BTCC, I’ve done more than I ever thought I could have done, but all good things must come to an end at some point. The dream for me in 2020 would be to come back and stay with West Surrey Racing for another season, but if it can’t happen, that’s no bad thing.

I’m very well aware how it works commercially, and if we can’t come up with a deal that all adds up commercially, then that’s how it is. If it wasn’t like that then I have no doubts in myself that I should be on the grid, but that’s not how it works in this day and age.

The saddest part would be leaving West Surrey, I’m really happy here and feel like it would be ending sooner than it should. I’ve been a part of the BTCC for the past 12 years, and it will be a little weird if I’m not back next year, but I won’t be too sad. As one door starts to close, many more start opening, and I’m really chilled about next year.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.