Andrew Jordan victorious in the opening round of BTCC 2014

Andrew Jordan leads the points standings after winning two of the opening three rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

The Pirtek Racing driver and reigning BTCC champion won the opening race of the season, then followed that up with a repeat performance in race two, despite carrying 45kg of success ballast on his Honda Civic. Although he struggled to 13th place in the third and final race of the day, Jordan has surged to the head of the standings.

In race one of the Autocar-supported championship, the Honda Civic ace made full use of pole position to lead MG's Jason Plato and the BMW of Colin Turkington on the charge to Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. Jordan had a huge scare when his car snapped sideways through the right-hand corner, but he gathered up the moment and retained his narrow advantage over Plato. 

That was about as close as it got at the front; Plato paid close attention to the rear of Jordan's Civic as they came up to lap backmarkers, but Jordan remained composed and clinched a lights-to-chequered-flag victory.

Behind the top two, Turkington began to struggle with wayward handling, making him easy prey for Matt Neal and his Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate, Gordon Shedden. It was a promising debut for the new Honda Civic Tourer, which became the first estate-bodied car to claim a podium place in a BTCC race. Before the race's end, Turkington also got swallowed up by an impressive Rob Austin (Audi), Rob Collard (BMW) and Aron Smith (Volkswagen).

Jordan's victory in race one meant he lined up on pole position for the second encounter, albeit with a substantial amount of success ballast strapped into the rear of his Civic. Plato's hopes of outdragging the heavily laden Honda away from the start were scupped by a software issue which stranded his MG 6 on the grid.

Jordan capitalised, stretching out an early lead as a fast-starting Collard and Neal clashed at Paddock Hill Bend, only for his advantage to be wiped out when the safety car was deployed to allow marshals to recover Chris Stockton’s stricken Chevrolet Cruze from the gravel trap.

When the race resumed, Shedden – who had taken advantage of the earlier contact between Collard and Neal – showed most promise of challenging for the lead. The 2012 champion managed to edge his Honda Civic Tourer’s nose alongside Jordan’s door into Paddock Hill Bend, but the reigning champion was able to resist the attack.

Turkington was back on the pace and made impressive progress from the fourth row of the grid. He dealt with his team-mates Collard and Nick Foster by pulling almost identical moves on them under braking for Paddock Hill Bend on successive laps. Turkington then slipped past Neal's Civic Tourer at Druids Hairpin to secure third place behind Jordan and Shedden.