Mat Jackson insisted that no-one was going to take ‘his’ win away from him after the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Knockhill, after a defensive driving masterclass.
Jackson became the fourth different winner of the season in the final race at Knockhill, benefitting from the reverse grid to start the race on pole position.
The Motorbase Performance driver then led every lap of the race, despite intense pressure from firstly Rob Collard and then Sam Tordoff, to take victory.
“You’ve just got to cover them off,” said Jackson to TouringCars.Net of his rear-wheel drive rivals. “At the end of the day, it’s all done back at the hairpin. They can try and get around the outside at Turn One, but it’s never going to happen.
“It was my win and no-one was going to have that away from me. The only way he [Tordoff] was going to do it was to be to shovel us of. You can cover them off at the hairpin every time, because they’ve got rear-wheel drive, and if you don’t then they’ve got five lengths advantage on you.]
“You can only play to your strengths and stop their strengths. At the moment the BMW is clearly a well hooked up car and has clearly got the pace over everything else.
“Sam drove a good race – he’s got a championship to think of and he drove it fair, so it turned out a good result.”
Jackson admits that he will have to approach the final three meetings of the year from a different angle now that he is in the championship battle, unlike in his 2015 half-season.
“There’s a championship there, definitely. We’re not in the strongest position, clearly, Sam is 56 points up the road, but there’s a lot to play for and that’s certainly what we’re here for; that’s our intention.
“Last year we exploited the ballast situation and we got the results. It clearly isn’t going to be that straightforward this year. It’s a different game – we’re in the championship, we’ve got to carry the ballast and go some.”