Why Andrew Jordan stepped away from the BTCC...

Inevitably the whole saga left a rather bitter taste, but Jordan’s standing as an acknowledged BTCC title contender had prompted other offers for 2020 and again for this year. After due consideration, however, he declined, freeing him up to concentrate on the Jordan Racing Team’s ever-growing demand for the build and preparation of historic race cars.

Jordan has long loved the pure driving experience of racing historics and has starred at Goodwood several times in the past when BTCC commitments have allowed. Having a car with no downforce and limited rubber moving around beneath him is his favourite racing experience. Building and running Lotus Cortinas, Porsche 911s, Lotus Elans and AC Cobras for customers is at the heart of the Tamworth-based family business, and having Jordan’s driving skill on tap is a massive plus for customers.

In another twist, however, Jordan was in the thick of the action when the BTCC circus rocked up at Brands Hatch last August. While the headline race teams set up shop in the pit garages, Jordan and his father were in the outer paddock with a slick-tyred, 1300cc Mini Miglia. Jordan finished third, second and first in three fiercely contested BTCC support races, and he absolutely loved it. Jordan takes up the story of his return to Mini racing, a class that takes him back to his competition roots in junior rallycross as a 14-year-old in 2003.

“I’d always fancied a Mini Seven or a Miglia from when Dad was racing TVR Tuscans in the 1990s, and the Minis were support races,” he explains. “It was in the era when Nick and Joe Tandy were racing Mini Sevens, and it has now come full circle.

“I bought the Mini at the time when all the crap was going on with touring cars. We were at Goodwood for a test and the Mini was there for sale. My phone was going all day about the touring car situation, and I just bought the Mini. I’m really happy I did.” Going back to a BTCC meeting to compete in a support race might have been unsettling, but it was one of the few dates he could do last year and the BTCC race meeting TV coverage was a bonus. “We’ve still got partners to look after and the Brands races were on the TV, so it helped keep them happy,” he says. “Over the Brands weekend, the social media interaction I had on the Mini was way more than anything I’d had with the touring car.

“When you are in the touring car paddock, that’s your world and nothing else is going on; in the Mini paddock, there was no bull**** and no politics. We were there with the motorhome and the trailer and it was great. In the Miglias, you get really hard racing: it’s touring car-style racing but with an older car. That’s what I really enjoy.” As a BTCC front runner taking a big step down the racing ladder, Jordan was under no illusions about the challenge he was undertaking. “I knew there were good people in it,” he acknowledges. “Some people might have the view that I’d done touring cars and should go in and wipe the floor with them, because they’re only racing for fun. But I’ve always been brought up to recognise that there are good people in every class, and I knew it would be tough. Wherever you race – and it could be in the smallest club meeting – there will still be someone who will give you a run for your money.”

Jordan’s only other outing with the Mini last year was at Castle Combe in October, when he dominated both races in heavy rain. “It’s all about the fun, but you have some bloody hard racing and have to work for any results,” he says. “I love it. There’s a great group of people in Mini racing.”