Sam Tordoff: “My season starts at Donington”

Sam Tordoff says he feels that Donington Park will mark the start of his BTCC campaign after his troubled start to the 2019 season at Brands Hatch.

Despite heading the pack during pre-season testing, Tordoff endured a troubled season opener that saw him fail to score on his debut with the Cobra Sport AmD team.

Having returned to form during last week’s Thruxton test, where he lapped inside the top ten, Tordoff will be keen to get his campaign underway at Donington and said he felt confident about pushing for a strong haul of points.

“We’ve got to the bottom of the issue that I had at Brands Hatch and the test at Thruxton has validated that, so now I can head for Donington Park with my focus firmly on getting my season underway,” he said.

“Realistically, I’d say we are around 30 points down on where we should be after round one, but it’s a long season and there is no need to panic. There is plenty of time to recover, and we’ve seen in the past how drivers can have a difficult start to the year and still be right in contention at the end of the season.

“I’m heading for Donington feeling confident as we had a strong test there before the season started and it’s a circuit where I have gone well in the past. With no additional weight to carry into the weekend, we should be in a position to qualify well and then hopefully we can put some good points on the board. For me, the season starts now.

“Regardless of what the weather conditions may be, I’m sure we’ll be right in the mix.”