Sam Tordoff: “It feels like a perfect weekend”

Sam Tordoff was delighted to finally get his first win with the West Surrey Racing BMW squad, having worked “harder than ever” to make his way to the top spot.

Tordoff made steady improvements throughout the weekend, taking ninth in race one, fifth in race two and winning in the final race. The BMW driver dropped behind Matt Neal at the start after being squeezed on to the grass by pole sitting Adam Morgan, who was later penalised for a jump start.

“I’m really really happy with that, it’s been a long time coming,” Tordoff told TouringCarTimes. “I feel like I’ve been working harder than ever and when the results don’t come when you’re trying harder than ever you think what’s going wrong? What can I do more? Where’s it not quite working out?

“I think the difference was race two, I think the changes we made there set the tone. The soft tyre was phenomenal in race two, we got fastest lap and came through and that set us up for a great finale from P2. I think I rode my luck a bit from the start with Adam into turn one, if he hadn’t jumped the start I’d have been leading and when he did I tried to ride my luck a bit around the outside. He put me on the grass, but I think I would have done the same if I was in his position.”

The race seemed to be going the way of Matt Neal before the two-time champion made an uncharacteristic mistake on some fluid hidden in the shadows at Lodge corner, allowing Tordoff and Andrew Jordan to slip past.

“Matt made a little mistake on the fluid and that’s when I got my opportunity, so took full advantage of the one,” Tordoff said. “Matt Neal won’t make two mistakes in a race so the one was all I needed and then off we went. Andrew Jordan kept me honest, I thought I could cruise to the end and he quickly changed my mind on that one, so just managed the gap to the finish.”

The BTCC now prepares for a trip up North to Yorkshire at Croft, a home circuit for Tordoff and somewhere he is hoping to get a good result at a historically friendly circuit to the BMW.

“[This weekend] feels like a perfect weekend, a good haul of points and it sets us up nicely for what should be a BMW friendly Croft. It’s a home circuit for me, one we’ve always done terribly at in years gone by. The last few years have gone terribly in touring cars for me, meanwhile I always watched the BMWs go to their strongest race of the year, now we’re in that position hopefully we can make it count.”