Andrew Jordan has criticised Rob Collard for their contact in race three at Oulton Park, which saw the Eurotech driver out of the race and into retirement. The stewards investigation however decided that no penalties were warranted for the incident.
Jordan had a great start to the day with two second place finishes in races one and two, and was running in fifth place at the first safety car period in the final race of the day, which had been brought out whilst Dan Welch’s stranded Proton was recovered.
At the restart, Jordan was attacked by Rob Collard’s West Surrey Racing BMW into the first corner at Old Hall, with Collard’s nose slightly ahead on the inside of Jordan’s Honda through the corner, but the Honda was edged out wide and hit the tyre barrier on the outside and retired with broken suspension.
Jordan gesticulated angrily at Collard as the WSR driver circulated past on the following lap behind the second safety car, and shrugged off an attempt by Collard to reconcile after the race in the pit lane.
“All the quick guys there’s normally mutual respect, bumping and nudging here and there we accept that, that’s what goes on,” said Jordan to TouringCarTimes. “But when someone sticks you in the wall like that and ends your race, it’s frustrating.”
“This is meant to be the pinnacle of British motorsport and look down the pit lane,” said Jordan, looking over at the battle scarred parc fermé after the race. “The driving standards are absolutely ridiculous. Rob had been hitting me up the arse every straight and jumps from four lengths back to be there at the first corner, where’s the racing in that? It’s very frustrating. Granted I got into Rob a little bit earlier in what I’d say was a touring car move, but that I’d say was more of a stock car move.”
Rob Collard, who went on to finish in sixth place, believed the move was a fair one and that he’d taken the position away from Jordan, after they’d been battling hard together in the opening laps of the race.
“A couple of laps before, I had the run on Andrew and he’d pinched me against the wall, then I went to go round the outside and he ran me out wide,” said Collard to TouringCarTimes. “I was a lot quicker than him, our car was great as it was the first time all year that I’ve had the weight out of the car”
“Then on the restart, I think he just didn’t expect me to go down his inside. He left the door wide open and I got cleanly right down the inside of him, and I’d think an experienced driver would then take the view maybe to concede that place and not try and race around the outside of one of the most difficult corners in the UK.”
Jordan returns to the lead of the BTCC independent drivers’ classification after Oulton Park, with Rob Collard now up in to second just six points behind. In the overall standings, Collard moved back ahead of Jordan after race three into fourth in the overall drivers’ standings, just three points ahead.
BTCC Independent Drivers’ Standings after Oulton Park
