As weekends go, Jordan Annells will have had better this season as the bad luck continued for him in the Vortex Ford Fiesta Championship.
In race one ended in retirement with Jordan and in race two he finished in 18th place having worked his way forward from the back of the grid.
Speaking exclusively to Kent Sports News after the race weekend at Donington, Jordan said: “The weekend at Donington was definitely my toughest of the season. It’s a track I hadn’t raced at for years and I had very little experience of going into the weekend, so was aiming to learn quickly and qualify within the top half of the grid. Unfortunately I never found the sweet spot in the car and struggled for pace in qualifying.
“Luck definitely hasn’t been on my side so far this year. I guess it’s just been one of those years, every time we start to make progress or are heading towards a good result, something comes along and intervenes.
“The year started off promisingly but a string of mechanical failures recently has put us on the back foot, always coming along in the first of the two races as well so I have to start from the back of the pack.”
Race one started well for Jordan and it looked like he was going to be on for a good finish before disaster struck as Jordan explains.
He added: “I was making good progress in the first race, there were a few cars off on the first lap which helped to shuffle things about and keep everyone bunched up. I knew I had to drive aggressively if I was to achieve a decent result, so kept my head down and began working my way past a few cars.
“About 5 or 10 minutes into the race the engine mounting snapped and there was no way the car would have made it to the end of the race. This was extremely frustrating for the whole team, it was another freak mechanical issue that no one could have predicted!
“Thankfully it was only a small issue that needed fixing, swapping the bracket that held the engine in. I felt the car had an issue and came into the pits before it got worse and the engine was damaged, and the team could see what was wrong immediately. The car was fixed really quickly and all the team at Daniels Motorsport were confident it would be fine all along.
“My aim for the weekend was two top ten finishes but given the mechanical problems in the first race I just wanted to move up the grid as far as possible. 18th out of 26 cars isn’t really where I wanted to finish, and I think we had the pace all weekend to break into the top 15 if not the top 10.”
The second race was made more interesting with the elements playing their part as the heavens opened.
“Just before we went to grid up for the second race it started pouring down with rain so almost everyone went for wet weather tyres. Donington Park is probably one of the fastest drying circuits in the UK, and the rain stopped as the race got underway. The car was fast for the first half of the race but as the track dried out most peoples tyres had gone off and there wasn’t that much movement in the pack. Those sort of mixed conditions all weekend are one of the hardest things to deal with, although it does throw up a big opportunity for anyone who takes a gamble.”
“The next round is at Brands Hatch, at the Formula Ford Festival on the 26/27th of October. It’s the final round of the season, and would be nice to finish off on a high considering what a tough year it’s been so far. With a change in luck and support from all my friends, family and sponsors I’m confident that we can end the season with a decent top five finish.”