Sam Tordoff delighted with first touring car pole

A “thrilled” Sam Tordoff says he has a great chance of going for his first touring car win tomorrow, after taking his maiden pole in dominant style at Snetterton.

The Triple Eight MG man topped the times at a track where he has always gone well, taking his first win in the Renault Clio Cup in 2009, and a double pole and double win in the Porsche Carrera Cup last year.

Tordoff and team-mate Jason Plato were first and second in each of today’s three sessions – as they were in the Dunlop tyre test last month – and he is confident this can continue tomorrow.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Tordoff said: “It has been a long time coming, but it all just worked really well today. The team did a great job and the car was really, really good.

“We came here for the test and we knew the car was going to be good – you’re hoping it is going to be the same when you come back for the race, but you never really know.

“Things went really smoothly in free practice this morning. To go that quickly in qualifying was a bit of a surprise to be honest. We have obviously got some time in the bag.”

Although proceedings were halted after a red flag for Aron Smith’s accident, Tordoff was confident he wasn’t going to be toppled.

He said: “The track was very quick early on. The race prior to us, the rubber they laid down was very quick. But it just slowed down massively after the first 10 minutes.

“If we hadn’t have had a red flag, I don’t think anyone would have gone any quicker.

“It’s great to be on the front row tomorrow, and we give ourselves a great chance of going for a win.

“I got my first Clio win here, I did two poles and two wins in Porsche last year – this place is kind to me, and I’ve always felt on top of this circuit.

“I’m not carrying any ballast and the top five all are, so that should play into our hands as well. All in all, I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”