Mat Jackson claims controlled race one victory

Mat Jackson claimed victory in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Donington Park, ahead of MG ace Josh Cook and a surging Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis.

Mat Jackson made a lightning start in the Ford Focus ST, immediately deposing the MG duo of Ashley Sutton and Josh Cook before turning right into the first corner at Redgate. Sutton dropped back into the clutches of Rob Collard in the BMW 125i M-Sport whilst his team-mate maintained second behind Jackson. The safety car was deployed at the end of the opening lap as Ollie Jackson headed for the gravel trap at turn one.

The notable winners from the opening exchanges were Tom Ingram and the BMW duo of Collard and Goff who demoted reigning champion Gordon Shedden down to seventh. The Team BMR duo of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato also improved on their starting slots to run 10^th and 14^th behind the safety car.

There were issues for Jake Hill, who dropped down to the rear of the field after a trip across the grass after running an impressive 9^th following his fifth row start on the grid. After a trip to the pitlane and a new right rear tyre, he rejoined the fray on the fourth lap.

However, it was the left-rear that proved a problem for Martin Depper as it came loose and detached through Redgate on Lap 5, forcing the Eurotech Honda wide across the gravel. Depper attempted to rejoin the circuit before realising the extent of the problem and making a beeline back across the track to safety on the opposite side.

At the front, Jackson extended his advantage by a tenth of a second lap on lap, but the real fight was for the four positions immediately behind him on the road.

MG duo Cook and Sutton were virtually nose-to-bumper and had both Brands Hatch winner Tom Ingram and the fast-starting Collard in close company.

Things began to unravel for Sutton on lap eleven, with Ingram seizing third from the rookie into Redgate, before Collard then squeezed through under braking down the Craner Curves. Jack Goff further relegated the MG driver to 6^th into Coppice, though the reigning Clio Cup champion put up a spirited fight in an attempt to reclaim the lost ground, but ultimately had to slot behind.

The race continued to get worse for the soft tyre-shod Halfords Yuasa Racing works Type R machines, with both Shedden and Matt Neal losing places to Jeff Smith and Arón Smith respectively, relegating the Honda drivers who were later passed by WSR’s Sam Tordoff and BMR’s Colin Turkington.

Sutton reclaimed fifth from Collard on lap fourteen in a similar move down the Craner Curves to the one that initially bested him, though the MG took to the outside of the series stalwart as opposed to the inside line to take the place.

With three laps to run there was a big accident between Dan Welch and former Intermarque champion Matt Simpson into Coppice, neccesitating another safety car period as debris littered the area surrounding the damaged cars. The incident occurred as a result of Welch taking to the grass heading through McLean corner, with Simpson unable to avoid the Proton Gen-2 as it came back across the circuit.

James Cole then completed the plethora of dramas as his Subaru Levorg caught fire heading down the main straight, forcing him to park up at the end of the pit lane and clamber swiftly out of the car. That brought out the red flags and brought the first contest of the weekend to a conclusion, with Mat Jackson victorious ahead of Josh Cook and Tom Ingram.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	7		Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	15	18:16.822	1:10.466	3
2	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	15	1.86	1:10.624	2
3	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	15	0.217	1:10.669	5
4	31	C	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	15	6.717	1:10.586	8
5	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	15	0.355	1:10.758	1
6	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	15	1.175	1:10.506	6
7	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	4.483	1:11.021	12
8	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	15	1.616	1:11.132	7
9	600	C	Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	15	1.567	1:10.851	21
10	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	15	1.599	1:11.373	11
11	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	0.519	1:11.174	4
12	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	0.757	1:11.288	9
13	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	15	0.256	1:11.437	14
14	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	15	0.975	1:11.322	25
15	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	15	3.659	1:11.426	13
16	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	15	0.897	1:11.449	23
17	99	M	Jason PLATO		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	15	5.773	1:11.658	18
18	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	15	1.256	1:11.177	15
19	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	15	3.074	1:12.088	24
20	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	15	0.472	1:12.096	27
21	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	15	0.437	1:11.650	19
22	22		Chris SMILEY		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	15	5.197	1:12.107	28
23	38		Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	15	3.095	1:12.149	30
24	84		Kelvin FLETCHER		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	15	10.483	1:12.372	31
25	39	M	Warren SCOTT		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	15	21.782	1:12.306	16
26	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	14	1 Lap	1:11.883	10
R	20	M	James COLE		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	15	40.28	1:11.819	17
R	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	13	2 Laps	1:11.359	22
R	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	13	2 Laps	1:11.600	20
R	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	10	3 Laps	1:13.531	29
R	30		Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	4	6 Laps	1:13.065	26

Complete race results