News - Formula BMW Europe – Rounds 5 and 6 – Silverstone – 5th and 6th July 2008

The British summer would not be compete without the annual visit of Formula One and this year on the 6th of July 2008, Silverstone held the British Formula One Grand Prix once again. For Jordan this was to be a huge weekend in which he had dreams of stepping up onto the top step of the Formula BMW Europe podium in front of his home crowd.

The standard 30 minute practice session took place on Friday morning and once again Jordan had to learn a new circuit in only this time, after missing the official test earlier in the year. Practice didn’t go totally according to plan but Jordan knew that there was a lot more to come from his DAMS car. Qualifying was also on Friday and after a good start to the session Jordan had been inside the top ten for the most part. The decision was made to go onto the second set of new tyres, trying to keep with every other drivers strategy, but this call was made too late and it left Jordan very little time, 4 minutes to make the most out of the circuit which was getting quicker with each lap. Only having 1 flying lap on his new tyres left Jordan in 12th place on the 30 car grid but still comfortably in front of his DAMS team mates. As in each event of Formula BMW Europe the driver’s second best times give them their positions for the second race. Jordan’s second best lap was his out lap on new tyres and this really showed how much more time could have been made if a better tyre call was judged. Although this was disappointing, Jordan was still relatively confident that good results could be obtained in the races because the car felt quick on the new set of tyres.

Race one took place on Saturday afternoon and the track had changed dramatically from qualifying. Jordan struggled for grip in the windy and cold conditions and the car felt completely different to that in qualifying. After a good start Jordan made it up into 9th place then slipping down the order slightly as the tyres failed to really come on. Jordan drove a good race and came home the top DAMS car in 14th place.

The second race of the weekend was due to start at 8 30 on Sunday morning. After a sharp shower just preceding the start, chaos ensued as the teams frantically changed the cars to wets in the collecting area. For this race Jordan felt good that it was wet as he has had many good wet results in the past and knew that if the car was well balanced, he could make up places. A brilliant start leapt Jordan up 6 places but as he turned his way into Becketts on the opening lap the problem that would plague his race immediately took effect. Chronic under steer left Jordan struggling to make the corners around the long slippery Silverstone circuit. Slipping down the order lap after lap Jordan did not have a good race as the car would just not grip as no significant changes had been made to the car before the race to make it work in the rain. Ending his home race in this fashion was not ideal and Jordan left Northamptonshire very disappointed.

Jordan said “It’s a very disappointing way to finish the weekend. The car just really struggled for grip in both races, but the wet race was unbearable with understeer everywhere!! I came here to try and at least be on the podium, and after my fantastic top 6 finish in the test just before this weekend, I felt this was possible. Sometimes things go wrong in racing and you just have to make up the bad weekends with a better one next time!”