Sam Tordoff takes championship lead away from Oulton Park

Oulton Park was a landmark weekend for Sam Tordoff in the context of the 2016 championship race, with a win and pair of second places propelling him to the top of the standings.

West Surrey Racing’s Tordoff has a one-point lead over Team Dynamics’ Matt Neal heading into Croft, a circuit which is traditionally strong for the BMW 125i M-Sport.

Tordoff was arguably the star performer on a day where a series of superb passes made the difference, including on Team BMR’s Colin Turkington in the second race and on a number of drivers at the hairpin in the finale.

He joined Team BMR’s Jason Plato in standing on the podium in all three races of the day in Cheshire.

“I didn’t think that was quite possible – I thought race three was going to be a consolation for what had been a great weekend up to that point,” said Tordoff to TouringCarTimes.

“But the waves just seemed to part for me. Some of the moves at the hairpin were a bit kamikaze and do-or-die, but some days it pays off for you.

“There are a few bold manouvres I have done today which have made the difference, including the move on Colin in race two. They are the difference between winning and not.

“In the nine rounds before this weekend I’ve not felt like I’ve delivered and really shown what I’m capable of. But I knew it was in the locker and this weekend we’ve arrived.”

Assessing his chances for the next round, Tordoff added: “We’ve got our rewards today and we just need to manage that at Croft, which will be a great circuit for us. It’s massively a BMW circuit, we’ve been really successful there.

“I’m not really worried about carrying 75kg into qualifying and race one. I still think we can go there and qualify in the top five.”