Andy Jordan, should he not take the championship this weekend, probably won’t be remembered as one of the stars of the 2016 championship, but the Motorbase driver has found his way into the title battle with consistent strong performances for the majority of this season. Only these performances more often than not see him finish outside the top three. He may not have seen the glory of the podium very often this season, but he could still see the glory of the title by the end of the weekend.
Andy Jordan’s championship points this season
Besides a relatively disappointing eleventh place in the first race of the season, Jordan got off to a strong start at Brands Hatch. The Motorbase driver went on to take two fourth place finishes and a fastest lap at the event, the third strongest performer of the championship finalist.
A technical infringement in qualifying slashed Jordan’s chances of repeating that at Donington Park, when he was forced to start from twenty fifth on the grid for race one. It was a difficult weekend for the Red Bull backed driver, but, despite not being able to take a top ten finish, Jordan took points from all three races. It did mean that he fell away from the sharp end of the championship, though.
Thruxton would be his chance to turn that around.
Things looked set to be another tough weekend with a disappointing qualifying, but chaos in the opening race gave Jordan the chance to bag a healthy amount of points. He took advantage of the opportunity, finishing third in race one.
Race two saw some stunning tyre management from the Pirtek backed driver, who eventually overtook Adam Morgan to take his first win of the season.
The following race has been the only time this season Jordan has finished out of the points, a puncture dropping him to the back of the field late on in the race.
Overall, it hasn’t been a particularly glamourous for Jordan, but an average finish of eighth means he’s been consistently scoring points, which have all added up.
Over the rest of the season, Jordan has only taken three podiums, including a win at Silverstone, but has only finished outside the top ten three times.
Taking bottom end of the top ten finishes might have gotten him into the title race, but it probably won’t be enough to win the championship alone. If Jordan wants to take the title, Brands Hatch will need to be a showstopper for the Motorbase driver.
A breakdown of Jordan’s finishes this season
Jordan enters the final round just over thirty points behind the championship leader. Three average finishes isn’t going to be enough to close that gap, not even if the other drivers in the fight fail to finish. But we have seen some amazing performances from the Pirtek backed driver. He definitely has it in him to take the title.
Photo credit: Caroline Rhea
