News : MG’s bittersweet weekend at Snetterton

Photography: BTCC Media Office

Sam Tordoff, MG KX Momentum Racing, Snetterton, 2013

MG KX Momentum Racing 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 (BTCC) at Snetterton last weekend.

Tordoff got proceedings off to a glowing start with his maiden BTCC victory in the opening race and he was tracked across the line by his team-mate Jason Plato to score MG KX Momentum Racing’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 eighteenth on the grid through to fifth place to bank some more points.

Plato had a frustrating time, commenting; ‘We came here expecting big results and ended up with lady luck dealing us a very poor hand. 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 okay. 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.”

Sam Tordoff, MG KX Momentum Racing, Snetterton, 2013 (2)

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 sixth rescued something. We can go forward from here.’

A number of the dramas were out of the team’s control but MG KX Momentum Racing’s 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.’

The next three rounds of the British Touring Car Championship take place at Knockhill in Fife, Scotland, on 25th August.

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship 2013 – Drivers’ Standings after 18/30 rounds

1  Matt Neal Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic 256
2  Andrew Jordan Pirtek Racing Honda Civic 247
3  Gordon Shedden Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic 234
4  Colin Turkington eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport 219
5 Jason Plato MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 206
6  Sam Tordoff  MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 182

Jason Plato, MG KX Momentum Racing, Snetterton, 2013

 

Clive Goldthorp

7 Comments

  1. Well done MG on another BTCC victory and also on disproving the age-old touring-car adage that ‘if you win on Sunday, you sell on Monday’ (which had always seemed pretty tenuous to me, to be honest)… Winning BTCC races is a huge achievement but it seems to have had no impact whatsoever on selling MG6s.

    If there is indeed no correlation between success on the track and success in the showroom, why is it that manufacturers pour so much money into competing in the BTCC?

    I do wonder if MG Motor’s interests might not be better served if it withdrew from motor-racing and instead channelled all of that money into actually running some TV commercials so that someone outside of this website gets to know that MG still exists and is designing/assembling cars in Britain.

  2. Shame about the fuel pump. Has nobody heard of “Operating and Stand by” these days? What about the old trick for SU fuel pumps of putting two in series so that if one fails electrically, the other simply pumps straight through the failed pump and no failure occurs. Nowadays, two injection pumps in parallel with non-return valves on the outlets would do the trick.

  3. @IGL – It’s a TOCA stock part, and is only allowed to be used as stated in the rules, so do think they can do that. Not sure why Tripe 8 have had so many duff TOCA parts in the last 2 years!! Cost Plato 2/3 wins last year and most likely the championship.

    On a plus note what a great first win for Tordoff!

  4. “Winning BTCC races is a huge achievement but it seems to have had no impact whatsoever on selling MG6s”

    If they write another couple off this season, it will make the ‘vehicles supplied in the UK’ figure double!

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