Delight for Sam Tordoff as first corner gamble pays off

Sam Tordoff said his “gamble” of a bold first corner pass on Colin Turkington paid off handsomely in the second race at Oulton Park, as it gave him the platform to secure his first win of the season.

With second and first places so far today, West Surrey Racing’s Tordoff now leads the championship by five points from Team Dynamics’ Matt Neal.

The Yorkshireman said his plan for the weekend had worked out perfectly so far, and anything gained on the soft tyre in the final race would be a bonus.

“I think it was made at the start, really. I knew if I didn’t do it there then it was me finishing second,” said Tordoff to TouringCarTimes.

“I didn’t think I had enough in the initial getaway phase to get past so I thought I’d gamble and slice across, and it worked. We can now approach race three slightly differently and consolidate after two strong races.

“The plan was to come here and qualify well, not carrying much weight. We had to smash the first two races because we are running the soft tyre in race three. The plan is working perfectly and anything we can get in race three is the cherry on the cake.”

But he said the picture wasn’t quite as clear to him during the race.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen for two reasons. Obviously we were carrying weight, and the Subarus were really strong in the second half of the first race,” said Tordoff.

“I got into the lead and I was waiting to see what would happen, because maybe in the second half of the race they would come back at me and I’d need an answer for it.

“But the car was very good and the tyres didn’t degrade at all.”

The reverse grid final race comes up at 16.57 BST and will feature seventh placed finisher Matt Neal on pole position, ahead of Triple Eight Racing’s Josh Cook.