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Revised livery as Tordoff seeks to defend BTCC points lead

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Sam Tordoff will look to defend his lead in the BTCC points standings when the series heads to his home circuit of Croft this weekend, complete with a special livery for the fifth round of the season.

The West Surrey Racing driver moved to the head of the standings thanks to a strong weekend at Oulton Park last time out, and makes the trip to North Yorkshire with a single point lead over Matt Neal.

Despite the fact his BMW will be laden with maximum ballast, Tordoff insisted he was still confident of a strong weekend at a circuit where his rear-wheel drive car has traditionally been strong, with leading the way into the Croft meeting being a ‘special feeling’.

“Oulton Park could not really have gone much better for me; to get a win and two seconds was actually beyond my expectations,” he said. “It feels fantastic to lead the championship anyway, but for a Yorkshireman to be leading the points heading into Yorkshire’s only race of the season is even more special.

“I’m well aware that my championship lead is only one point and that anything can happen when you have 32 cars on a relatively short circuit and the top 15 or more separated by a second on the grid. We’re carrying the maximum ballast – 75kg – but hopefully the pace of the WSR BMW should be enough to take away much of that penalty. I can’t wait.”

Tordoff will run with a revised livery this weekend in celebration of the 70th anniversary of family business JCT600, which comes the day after the Croft weekend.

As such, Tordoff’s BMW will run with a platinum base complete with black lettering for the fifth meeting of the year, with the colours also remaining in place for the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed.

“It’s an honour to celebrate the platinum anniversary of JCT600 with a special livery at Croft,” he said. “When I saw the first designs of the livery, I thought ‘that’s pretty cool’ and then when I saw the car in person, it looked even better.

“JCT600 started in Yorkshire, so for a local boy like me to be able to mark the 70th year of the family business in this way – and at the only Yorkshire circuit in the BTCC – makes me feel very proud.”