Mike Jordan

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For the former professional basketball player, see Michael Jordan.


Mike Jordan

2008 BTCC driver
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom
Nickname -
Car # 77
Team Team Eurotech
Car Honda Integra
Championships 0
Wins 1
Podium finishes 7
Poles 0
Fastest laps 2
Debut season 1989
Best championship result 8th in 2007
2008 position 11th (29 points)

Mike Jordan (born February 17, 1958 in Sutton Coldfield, England) is a British racing driver who has competed in various classes of saloon and sportscar racing. He has won three British titles, and currently competes in the BTCC against many drivers less than half his age, including his son and team-mate Andrew. He lives in Lichfield with his wife Judith and his daughter and 2 sons.

Contents

[edit] Racing career

He started racing in the late 70's with a Morris Minor in the Classic Saloon Car Club's Pre-57 road-going championship, which he won in 1979. He bought the car from a workmate with bankloans, and drove it on the road (source: TinTopTuesday Radio interview, number 3). His first BTCC appearances were in 1989 in a Peugeot.

He was Porsche Cup champion in 1987 and 1991. He then competed in saloon cars and won the Willhire 24 Hour race in 1992 and 1993, also finishing runner up in the 1992 ESSO Group N Saloon Car Championship.

In the mighty V8 Eurocar racing saloons he was champion in 1996 and 1997 and then moved to the TVR Tuscan Challenge, twice finishing runner up in the championship.

[edit] GT Racing

In 2000 he teamed up with Mark Sumpter to race a Porsche GT3R in the GTO division of the British GT Championship, supporting Mark to the title. Mike then jumped into the top class of the British GT championship to race a thundering Lister Storm with David Warnock. Despite fierce opposition they won the title in 2001 and finished second the following season. Mike also made his FIA GT championship with Lister in 2001, winning outright at Nurburgring when partnering Jamie Campbell-Walter.

In 2002 he also competed with Mark in the Daytona 24 Hours, finishing the race at their first attempt. For 2003, Mike once again teamed up with Mark Sumpter to compete in the FIA GT championship alongside team mates Godfrey and David Jones.

For 2004 and 2005, he returned to the British GT Championship, winning races in 2004 with Sumpter and leading the chase of the Ferraris in 2005 when partnered by former TVR Tuscan rival Michael Caine.

[edit] New Start in BTCC

Jordan driving the Eurotech-run Honda Integra at the Brands Hatch round of the 2006 British Touring Car Championship.
Jordan driving the Eurotech-run Honda Integra at the Brands Hatch round of the 2006 British Touring Car Championship.
Jordan driving the Eurotech-run Integra at the Oulton Park round of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship.
Jordan driving the Eurotech-run Integra at the Oulton Park round of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship.

For 2006 Eurotech and Jordan returned to the BTCC, driving the Honda Integra that Matt Neal took to the 2005 BTCC title. He took 5th in the opening race of the season, ahead of David Pinkney's 2005 Integra. Jordan won round 6 of the championship at Mondello Park in Ireland, capitalising on the reverse-grid format. Having finished 7th in round 5, race winner Matt Neal chose the grid to be reversed with 8th place to be on pole (by picking this number at random from a selection from 6 to 10). Therefore, Jordan was 2nd on the grid, and coasted to a victory, beating Colin Turkington by 1.056 seconds. He followed this up with a 2nd place behind Gordon Shedden in the next race. On 15 October 2006, Jordan was involved in an accident at the Silverstone circuit during the final round of the BTCC season. Jordan's car was pitched into the tyre barrier when Jason Plato's SEAT suffered a driveshaft failure in front of him. Jordan was airlifted to hospital suffering from a serious head injury and punctured lung. Later reports stated that Jordan's condition wasn't as serious as originally feared, though he had suffered a number of broken ribs in the incident. For 2007 the team continued with the same car, even though it could no longer win the overall championship. He did not win a race, but finished 8th overall despite an influx of BMWs from West Surrey Racing and Mat Jackson 2008 sees Jordan's ex-Matt Neal Integra pass on to his son, former rallycross star Andrew, while Mike upgrades to another Honda Integra, this time an ex-Gordon Shedden 2006 machine.

[edit] Trivia

  • Mike's grid girl, Miss Pirtek, fashion model Faye Coton turned heads on the grid all year. An image taken of Faye during the last BTCC meeting of the year at Silverstone (October 15th) was used by ITV-F1 is an advertsiement for their web site. The ad appeared in the December issue of F1 Racing magazine.

[edit] Related Links

Team Eurotech

Awards
Preceded by
Michael Caine
Autosport
British Club Driver of the Year

2001
Succeeded by
Danny Watts