Young star shines at Pirtek Racing
May 21st 2008

Pirtek's Andrew Jordan was one of the stars of the day in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park on Sunday 4th May. In only his third weekend of BTCC racing, Andrew battled with the biggest names in the championship in some truly challenging conditions to twice win the Independent Trophy and take a fifth and a sixth place overall.

Mike (50) and Andrew (18) are making BTCC history this season in the pair of Pirtek-backed Honda Integras by being the first father and son team to compete in the championship.

While Andrew's performances were nothing short of sensational, given his lack of experience at this level, Mike was also in the thick of some fabulous BTCC action and twice claimed top 10 places. But it was Andrew taking the glory at their home track. "I couldn't even begin to put into words what I feel about Andrew's results today," said Mike at the end of a remarkable day.

Qualifying on Saturday had been disappointing after both cars ran well within the top 10 times during free practice. But from 12th on the grid, Andrew was soon charging up the order in the opening race on his way to an eventual fifth overall and first Independent.

"In the first race I got a mega start and made up a lot of places," said Andrew, who raced comfortably with some of the biggest names in the BTCC, despite two safety car interruptions. "The car felt awesome and that was my first independents' win and fifth overall, which was a great result." Mike also netted a top 10 finish to make it a great start to the day for the team.

Leading BTCC journalist Matt James was among those to recognise the scale of Andrew's performance at Donington. Reporting in Motorsport News, James said: "This was the weekend that showed Jordan Jnr has every intention of fighting for the class crown on his own merit."

Andrew continued the good work this weekend at Thruxton, racing at the front of the pack and challenging Jason Plato for the lead of Round 12 at the challenging track. Although ultimately a minor electrical problem prevented him from trying for an overall podium finish, it was great weekend for the team with four top 10 finishes from six race starts and even a near dead-heat between the two cars as Mike Jordan beat Andrew to the line by eight thousandths of a second in the opening race.

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