Bitter Sweet Weekend For KX Momentum Team at Snetterton

MG KX MOMENTUM drivers Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff both experienced the highs and lows of motor racing in the sixth meeting of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton last weekend.

Tordoff got proceedings off to a glowing start with his maiden touring car victory in the opening race, and he was tracked across the line by his team-mate Jason Plato to score the KX Momentum team’s second one-two lock out of the year.

However, their plans were derailed after that as Plato suffered a fuel pump problem in race two and was forced to retire while Tordoff, saddled with 45kgs of success ballast, suffered from braking problems and dropped down the order.

In the final race of the day, Plato rolled dramatically after an accident on the opening lap while trying to avoid a clash ahead of him. Tordoff powered from 18th on the grid through to fifth place to bank some more points.

Tordoff’s maiden win was taken in great style in race one, and he says that it has given him a real lift as the championship is in its second half. “Winning in the latter part of the season was my target. I have done that now, and the next plan is to win consistently. I am over the moon about it,” he said.

“Suffering in race two with the brakes put us on the back foot for race three, but we bounced back with all the lessons we had learned over the two-day test recently. I am confident we have an edge on soft tyres now, and fighting up to fifth rescued something. We can go forward from here.”

For Plato, it was a frustrating time: “We came here expecting big results, and ended up with lady luck dealing us a very poor hand,” adding “I am annoyed with the failure in race two because it was a part mandated by the championship that broke – it’s nothing to do with the team or anything we can control.

“The crash in race three was one of those things, I was trying to avoid a crash and that caused me to go off the road. It looked dramatic and I will be a bit sore for the next few days but I am ok. It is going to make things a big uphill battle in terms of the championship now, but I am not going to stop fighting. Motor racing isn’t meant to be easy.”

While a number of the dramas were out of the team’s control MG KX Momentum team principal Ian Harrison said that he was disappointed with the weekend’s outcome.

“In race one, we did what we should be doing,” said Harrison. “That was an indication of our potential but races two and three fell apart. You can’t help but feel that we were very unlucky with the incidents that happened but the shining light was Sam’s first win and another one-two. All we need to do now is to make that a more consistent performance.”

Standings after Snetterton:

1 Matt Neal – 224

2 Andrew Jordan – 205

3 Jason Plato – 188          

4 Gordon Shedden – 188

5 Colin Turkington – 184

6 Sam Tordoff – 148

 

The next rounds of the championship take place at Knockhill in Fife, Scotland, on August 25.

Photo by Aaron Lupton.