Sam Tordoff pleased with Snetterton pace despite brake issues

Sam Tordoff fought back from a brake issue in the opening race at Snetterton to come away from the Norfolk circuit with a pair of top ten finishes.

Having qualified in third, the Triple Eight squad were aiming for two cars on the podium come the chequered flag, with team-mate Jason Plato sitting in pole position, however that plan had gone out of the window by the first corner.

A brake component failure forced Tordoff to run wide at Riches, who then crawled back to the pits where the Triple Eight mechanics assessed and repaired the issue, losing the Yorkshireman four laps in the process.

“Race one was really disappointing with the brake issue,” said Tordoff. “The guys did a great job to get me back out and the fact I posted the second fastest time of the race actually made things worse because it showed I had the pace to run with Jason.”

Race two saw Tordoff start his 50th BTCC race from 31st on the grid, although by the end of lap one he had taken his MG6 up to 20th position. Five laps later and he had worked his way past a further six competitors and was now sitting in a points scoring position.

As his charge continued through the field, Tordoff clashed with West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard, an incident that would cost the former two points on his license. He continued to move onwards and upwards, however, crossing the finish line in a highly impressive ninth position. A quieter third race for Tordoff saw him gain a couple of positions before crossing the finish line in seventh place.

“I’m happy with the way I came through the field in race two, I really enjoyed it and it was good to be in a car that I could push and go forwards with,” added Tordoff, who now sits in eighth place in the drivers’ standings on 138 points.

“In the last race I felt we had the pace to hold position, but not to push on and I had a pretty clean and uneventful race out there. We head to Scotland next and Knockhill isn’t kind to us normally. I’m not sure right now what way I’ll go with setup there. It’d be obvious to use last years, but we tried a few things today that could make a difference, we’ll have to see.”