After claiming his third victory of the campaign at Snetterton a fortnight ago, Mat Jackson insists he heads north to Knockhill this weekend with his eyes firmly fixed on the British Touring Car Championship title.
Jackson, who finished runner-up in 2008, currently sits sixthin this years championship battle, some 35 points adrift of standings leader Rob Collard, though Motorbase Performance currently hold a commanding 74 point margin at the summit of the Independent Teams Championship.
With a maximum of 67 points on offer at this weekend’s triple-header around the undulating 1.27 mile Knockhill circuit, the Ford Focus ST driver is as well placed as any to throw their hat into the ring with twelve rounds remaining before the season closes at Brands Hatch in October.
Snetterton proved to be one of the Kent-based outfits strongest showings of the campaign, with Jackson claiming a further podium finish alongside his win, and he could have completed a hat-trick of trips to the rostrum if not for contact in the reverse-grid contest.
Qualifying at Knockhill could prove pivotal to a much-needed repeat performance, with space sure to be at a premium during the action-packed thirty minute session on Saturday afternoon.
Regardless of the potential outcomes, Jackson insists both he and the team head into the weekend in good form and is hopeful of repeating the Focus’ previous strong results at the Fife venue.
“We’re in a good place heading into this weekend at Knockhill,” he said. “We enjoyed some good results there last year and on the back of a strong performance at Snetterton we’ve shown that the car is in the window.
“It’s great to have such a gap leading the Teams Independents Championship but our eyes are still on the main prize!”
Team Manager Oly Collins also believes maintaining momentum will be key to any potential championship success for Jackson and Motorbase, and is hopeful that race three a fortnight ago will prove to be the extent of their bad luck from hereon in.
“After a strong showing at Snetterton we’re keen to keep the momentum going at Knockhill,” commented Collins.
“Both cars showed strong pace last time out with a brace of trophies and a win but also a chunk of bad luck which prevented both cars being on the podium. Hopefully that’s behind us now and we can get both cars on the podium together this weekend.
“Knockhill always throws up some unique challenges as a circuit so we expect another close and frantic weekend with strong competition.
“The BTCC has so far delivered another nail biting season for us all and the Championship is still wide open. We’re in a really strong position heading to Scotland but we also know a lot can happen over the course of a race weekend!”
The first race gets underway on Sunday 14th August at 11:40, with TouringCars.net on hand at Knockhill to provide full session reports, exclusive driver reaction and updates via the website and social media feeds throughout the weekend.