MAT CHASING THRUXTON WIN HAT-TRICK

Henley-in-Arden's Dunlop British Touring Car star Mat Jackson will be gunning for his first race win in the high-profile series at the Thruxton track in Hampshire where he's tasted the victory champagne for the last two years.

Mat won at Thruxton in the SEAT Cupra Championship in 2005 and 2006 on his way to the title and now thinks his Whale Tankers/Maxim-backed BMW 320si E90 will be the car to have when he lines up on the grid in front of the ITV cameras and tens of thousands of spectators on Sunday May 6th.

In his latest BTCC race (Rockingham April 22nd) Mat achieved a career-best finish of second place right behind SEAT's Jason Plato the championship leader. That followed a third place finish in the season's opening round at Brands Hatch.

"Thruxton's the fastest track we go to and the high speeds mean the races are always decided by tyre wear and that's one of the BMW's biggest strengths," says Mat. "The front-wheel-drive cars could struggle because they have to steer and put their power down through the front tyres whereas the BMW is rear-wheel drive so that load is spread front and rear.

"You've also got to have a strong engine and a car with efficient aerodynamics at Thruxton because of the long straights and the BMW has got both. My car will only have 9kgs of success ballast in qualifying and first race so provided we can quickly get on top of the car's set-up then we should be in very strong shape."

Success ballast is the extra weight put on the top five cars to equalise performance and with Mat up to fifth in the championship his BMW must go through qualifying and the first race at Thruxton carrying it before the weights are re-calculated for race two at Thruxton.

Mat will also want to keep hold of his lead in the points for Independent drivers after moving to the top of the table at Rockingham. His family's Jacksons MSport team is also second in the Independents teams points.

The 25-year-old adds: "We've enjoyed a very strong start to our BTCC campaign and we're right in there fighting with the established names. The competition will intensify with each race meeting, but I'm confident of being able to go one better at Thruxton than I did at Rockingham and get that first win which would be the biggest result of my career.

"It's such a demanding circuit and requires different commitment and concentration levels to keep up your speed. We've got a great car and a great bunch of people in our team and I'm going all out for victory at Thruxton."

For those unable to wait to see Mat in BTCC action again they can see video footage of him + interview on Maxim's website which attracts more than 880,000 unique visitors a month: http://www.maximmag.co.uk/entertainment/cars/6513/btcc.html.

Mat's Thruxton timetable (May 5th-6th): Saturday: 9.30am-10.10am BTCC Practice 1 & 12.00pm-12.40pm BTCC Practice 2 Saturday: 3.15pm-3.45pm BTCC qualifying Sunday: 9.45am-10.35am Fans Pit Lane Walkabout Sunday: 10.55am BTCC round 7 (16 laps) Sunday: 1.45pm BTCC round 8 (16 laps) Sunday: 2.55pm BTCC Drivers Parade Lap Sunday: 44.50pm BTCC round 9 (16 laps)

Television (provisional schedule): Sunday: ITV3 4pm-5:30pm LIVE Sunday: Setanta Sports 2 10am-6pm LIVE all-day coverage Monday (May 7th): ITV1 00:50am-1:15am highlights Friday (May 11th): Men & Motors 7.30pm-8pm highlights

For more information contact: Tony Jackson, tel 01564 793050 or email matjacksonmedia@hotmail.co.uk
Mat Jackson's website: www.matjackson.com