Mat Jackson was left pleased after he claimed a second race victory of the season at last weekend [7th-8th May]’s British Touring Car Championship triple-header at Thruxton.
The Motorbase Performance driver claimed the honours in the reverse grid race in front of a bumper crowd of 33,000 in Hampshire, leading home Matt Neal and Adam Morgan. This, combined with an eighth place finish in race two after a puncture ruined his chance of points in race one, places Jackson fourth overall in the Drivers Championship, eleven points adrift of joint standings leaders Neal and Rob Collard.
The weekend started in difficult fashion for Jackson, as he could only clock the 14th fastest lap in his Ford Focus ST, but he continued to make gains until a puncture ended his running in a race eventually cut short five laps prematurely due to an incident on the main straight involving Neal, Gordon Shedden, Josh Cook and Jake Hill.
He managed to make his way from the tail end of the grid in the second contest to claim eighth, before making the most of a strong start to relieve pole-sitter Daniel Welch of the lead in race three, after which he scampered into the distance and held on to win.
“We struggled a bit at the start of the weekend in qualifying and didn’t really manage to hook up a fast lap which put us on the back foot,” explained Jackson.
“Race one started well and we were working our way up until we picked up a puncture. Race 2 was better, I got held up for a good chunk of the race but the car felt good and we managed to fight our way up to 8th and then thankfully got a lucky break with the reversed grid.”
Nevertheless, he was delighted with the performance and is optimistic about the near future as the team heads to the next meeting at Oulton Park firmly in the frame for a championship challenge.
“To get the second win of the day for Motorbase felt great, the hard work everyone puts in is paying off and we’re in a good place. The car’s performing well and we just need to keep clocking up the points and we’re all looking forward to going into Oulton Park in the Championship fight.”