Jordan aiming to 'claw points back' in title race

BMW Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan has set himself the aim of clawing back vital points in this season's British Touring Car Championship title race after qualifying on pole position for race one at Croft.

Jordan secured his first BTCC pole position in over five years following what proved to be a bizarre 30-minute shootout during Saturday's qualifying session at Croft.

In a session which was littered with no less than five red flag periods, Jordan took his first pole in BMW colours ahead BTC Racing's Chris Smiley after smashing the existing lap record previously set by his WSR team mate Colin Turkington during the 2014 season.

Despite setting the fastest time during the session, Jordan rode his luck to emerge with pole position after the 2013 champion spun at the Complex during the final minutes of qualifying, which brought out the fifth and final red flag.

As per the regulations, Jordan's best lap of the session was subsequently deleted, but the BMW driver still held onto pole position as virtue of his second fastest time.

Jordan arrives into tomorrow's 36-points shy of his championship leader Colin Turkington, but starts three positions higher than his BMW team mate, who qualified in fourth.

“It’s brilliant to be on pole position for the first time since 2014. I came here aiming to pick up where we left off at Thruxton. My BMW has minimal success ballast, and we were quick in both practice sessions, so pole was definitely the target," said Jordan.

"The session was pretty frustrating because of the red flags. I caused the last one after a tyre popped and I spun off at the Complex, so I lost my fastest lap, but fortunately my next-best lap was still fast enough to keep pole.

"I was sat there on the grass thinking ‘you idiot; you’ve thrown this away’, but the rain came and we’ve lucked in. The aim for tomorrow is to win the first race, score the most points and claw back more points in the title battle.”