Sam Tordoff Salvages Points On Luckless Weekend

Sam Tordoff endured yet more bad luck in the latest three rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, salvaging a handful of points at Donington Park.

Coming off the back of a frustrating Brands Hatch curtain-raiser, the Team GardX Racing driver was keen to make amends and kicked off the weekend with plenty of promise as he piloted his Ford Focus RS to third place in qualifying.

Converting his second row start into third on the road as the lights went out, Tordoff looked on course to score his first podium finish since returning to the series until an electrical issue forced him into the pits and out of the race.

Following a quick turnaround, the Motorbase Performance driver showcased his quality with a storming drive as he threaded his way through the field, jumping from P31 to P11.

Unavoidable contact towards the bottom of the Craner Curves on the opening lap of race three as the 29-year-old’s weekend come to a premature end, leaving him to wonder what might have been.

“We got off to a good start in race 1, but then developed a problem on lap 2 which affected the gear change,” Tordoff said. “I managed to figure it out we were just as quick as everyone else despite losing time and I thought I could rescue a result and drag it out for the podium. Unfortunately the car just stopped on the exit to the old hairpin and that just about wrote the weekend off.

“Race two was an exciting race and we were quick. It was a bit of a bittersweet result really as we shouldn’t have been starting from the back but we were happy with the performance of the car and we managed to work our way into the reversed grid draw.

“Typically, lady luck wasn’t on our side again, and we missed the rub of the draw. We always knew that race 3 was going to be a tough call on the hard tyre which has struggled all weekend. We got off to a great start and I was sure that we could have at least held onto a top ten finish but we got taken out on the first lap and it was game over – again.

“I’m starting to feel like the unluckiest man on the grid at the moment. Yet again we’re super-fast and have nothing to show for it. We’re doing everything right, but it’s just not going our way at all. But we’ll dust ourselves off in time for Thruxton and hopefully that’ll be a turning point and the podiums will start to flow!”

Tordoff will now head to Thruxton free of ballast virtue of sitting 25th in the drivers standings.