The champion with most to prove in 2017

In championships all over the world, there are drivers with extreme motivation. Whether they are fallen champions bouncing back, legends keen to show they still have what it takes, or youngsters desperate for a break, at whatever level there's someone with something to prove. None more so than a man who has swept all before him, but still finds his ability questioned.

The biggest challenge of Andrew Jordan's touring car career lies ahead of him. He is swapping to the WSR BMW 125i M Sport for his 10th year in the British Touring Car Championship, and switching to rear-wheel drive for the first time in touring cars. He also has a new team to learn. But that's only half of the task ahead - there is something bigger at stake that's seen as being on the line: his reputation.

This will be his third different team in as many seasons, and the 2013 champion hasn't really hit the winning groove since stepping away from his family-run Eurotech Racing outfit in '14.

"There are plenty of other drivers who have swapped teams like I have - even in the same timeframe," says Jordan. "But they don't get the grief that I do. Maybe that's because of what I've achieved in the past. I'm not sure.

"At the touring car awards ceremony last year, [compere] Steve Rider was on stage taking the piss with lots of pre-rehearsed jokes about me swapping teams. That just fuels me, it fires me up. I was glad he did in a way, because I can step onto that stage next season and ask him who's laughing now. It motivates me.

"It's only the people who I don't care about who are pointing out that I have swapped teams three times. The ones who I care about know what is going on."

Jordan's title-winning year in 2013 had been a real head-turner. He took six wins over the course of the 30 races, including an all-important brace at Rockingham towards the end of the season when the pressure was on.

His time at Eurotech Racing really was a family affair. In 2013, Jordan was engineered by his brother-in-law Adam Hardy and his father Mike was team boss. The routine that the team had was remarkable, with Hardy and Jordan Jr working meticulously on pre-race preparation.

Hardy then got a job in the DTM with Abt and WRT in sportscars at the end of 2013, and the Jordans drafted in experienced former IndyCar engineer Andy Brown to help, with Hardy still having input remotely.

Even as defending champ in 2014, there were four wins as Jordan drove to fifth in the points, despite a mid-season shunt that left him concussed. But then things dried up.

A much-heralded switch to the factory MG team, run by Triple Eight Racing, fell apart before halfway through the year, and there was a decidedly frosty atmosphere in the garage. Brown was assimilated into the Triple Eight squad, but there was friction on the engineering side. The partnership broke up after it didn't bring a single win.

Last year, Jordan joined Motorbase Performance. There were two wins in the competitive Ford Focus, but he was overshadowed by team-mate Mat Jackson, who won five times and finished third in the points.

Jordan points to the fact that luck was really not on his side, and that's true to an extent because when things did click together, like at Thruxton and Silverstone, he was flying. But there were still some slightly strained relationships in the background, with Jordan's father a constant presence within the team, offering his input.

There needs to be something special in 2017 in terms of results to catapult his career back to the trajectory that it had five seasons ago.

Motivation is something that Jordan is not short of this year. He had three tests with WSR at the end of 2016 and they've fired him up hugely. For him, he says, it's a step back in time.

"When we ran the Hondas ourselves back over the winter of 2012, we were constantly working on the car, tweaking things and pushing the development as hard as we could," he says. "There was a real passion to it.

"I've found that already with WSR. The amount of things it's doing away from the track, developing and spending money in the right areas, you can see it has a similar commitment.

"It costs a lot of money to go motor racing, and when you see the team pushing the boundaries and working really hard to give you the best car that they can, then you know you have to bring your A game every time you get in the car. I'm not saying I didn't before, but the hunger is there.

"Your job as a driver is to go out there and win. I don't want to look back at the end of the season and think, 'If only I had spent an hour more on the data' here or 'I wish I had researched that better' there. I want to be totally on top of it. That's what it takes to win and I am prepared to put that in."

The initial testing has helped cement that feeling of optimism ahead of the new campaign. Although his first day of running was in the wet, even just a few miles in the BMW 125i M Sport were enough to convince Jordan that he's taken the right path.

"I stepped out of the car and I knew this was the right place to be, straight away. I have got to grips with the BMW very quickly," says the 27-year-old. "I think I've adapted to rear-wheel drive too. I know the racing will be different and there are things that I have to learn there in terms of on-track battling, but so far I know that I can get a quick lap time out of it.

"What has impressed me the most is the level of attention to detail from the team - it reminds me of the time I used to have with Adam engineering my car and leaving no stone unturned.

"With WSR's passion and my determination, I am going to be able to silence a lot of people at the end of 2017. Like I say, I just want to see Steve Rider again..."