MATT JAMES AMES

“Jordan is still one of the best BTCC drivers”

I

will start with something bold: Andrew Jordan is going to win the British Touring Car Championship in 2018. Get to the bookies right now. I did, and I got 20-1 (although I covered it off with his WSR BMW 125i M Sport team-mate Colin Turkington at 6-1…).

It’s brave to predict anything in the British Touring Car Championship.

It is a championship where predictability isn’t allowed: indeed, the people who organise it mitigate against it.

Look at the reversed grids, the ballast rules, the option tyres. Nothing is how it should be in the chase for the ultimate tin-top crown in the UK, if this was a purists’ championship. But it isn’t.

As you can read on page 18 in this week’s issue (and as pointed out by my good friend David Addison), there isn’t a single champion who doesn’t deserve their title. Why? Because whoever wins has had to ride the anomalies, work out a strategy and learn how to be successful. The curveballs that are thrown in to keep the racing tight actually serve to sort out the rubbish drivers from the good ones.

The guys who are in the title fight at the end are the drivers who have the brainpower to work out what the BTCC is.

A racer isn’t necessarily going to win every weekend even if they have the best equipment to use. It is the ones who know how a 30-race campaign goes, the ones who roll with the punches, that end up on top. That is the one thing in the BTCC that hasn’t changed.

So, when the trucks roll into Brands Hatch this weekend, where is your money going? I have chosen Jordan because he is still one of the best drivers in that championship. OK, so it’s four years since he won a title, but watch what he does: Captain Car Control hasn’t lost his skills and he is now familiar with his BMW, which should have taken him to at least six wins last year.

Yes, he is up against rear-wheel-drive king Turkington, but every king gets dethroned sooner or later.

Jordan put himself up against the ultimate scrutiny by joining Turkington at WSR last season. The team loves Colin, and Colin loves the team. This is a known fact, but, nevertheless, Jordan jumped into that cauldron and put himself up against the best.

If he beats Colin, a lot of questions will be answered, but he put himself in that place. Lose, and he will struggle to come back from that. Bravery in the extreme.

Me? I am backing his bravery and have put a wager on it. The ingredients are there, the ability is there and he hasn’t forgotten how to win. All of those factors are there, but so is the unpredictability.

Who would want to be an odds-setter, hey?