DISAPPOINTMENT AT DONINGTON FOR BMW DEALER TEAM UK.

BMW Dealer Team UK brought to a close a difficult weekend today as driver Mat Jackson experienced a frustrating race meeting behind the wheel of his Accident Exchange-backed BMW at Rounds seven, eight and nine of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.

It was the first race of the day that brought the greatest level of frustration for the 26-year-old. Jackson wasted no time in making amends for a disappointing qualifying position (14th) and by lap three was running in a strong seventh behind Matt Neal, but before Jackson could capitalise on his impressive form the safety car was deployed for three laps; returning to the pits on lap seven when the racing recommenced in earnest. By lap nine Jackson was challenging Darren Turner for fifth as the pair engaged in a side-by-side battle, however moments later Turner was forced to retire on the start-finish straight as Jackson moved up to fifth, he was then challenged by Tom Chilton who, as a result of an audacious passing attempt, hit Jackson on his right rear wheel and in turn spun round and t-boned Mat into the gravel, bringing Jackson's impressive drive through the field to a premature end. As a result of this disappointing result the Henly-in-Arden-based driver started from the back of the grid for race two.

In the second race, Mat made good headway from his disadvantageous starting position and clearly demonstrated the competitiveness of the BMW 320si. The safety car was deployed on the opening lap for two laps during which Jackson returned to the pits for a tyre change and as a result he was the quickest on track two laps later, however, the anticipated downpour did not arrive and Jackson was unable to make further inroads, ultimately finishing the 18-lap race just outside the points in a well-earned 11th place.

Jackson had to wait for the final race of the day to claw back some points and score his best result in an incident-free fixture. The disappointed driver brought his long weekend to a close with an eighth place finish from 11th on the grid. As a result Jackson now lies in sixth place in the overall Championship standings.

Jackson commented: 'It would have been nice to come away with a top five result in race one, unfortunately we had a coming together with Chilton which made it even harder for race two. We opted for wets for the second, which felt right at the time; as there was no grip on the slick tyres, in hindsight we would have gone out on slicks so it was a decision that didn't go our way; it was a bit of a gamble. Race three was a little bit lonely. The front wheel drive cars can get the temperature in their tyres a little quicker so that is where we struggled, but at the end of the day we will be going to Thruxton ballast-free where we hope we will have some clean dry racing and start rebuilding our points to remain in the Championship race.'

Team Principal Chris Tee commented, 'Clearly it has been a very challenging weekend; starting with our disappointing qualifying result, but we made some changes over night which improved the car's performance for the first race. It was frustrating that we got taken out in race one, which in turn set the scene for the second with another lowly grid position. However, on a positive note we did manage to claw back some points so the weekend wasn't totally pointless. We just hope that our bad luck doesn't follow us to Thruxton where we can turn our fortunes around.'

Championship Standings ­- Top Ten

1. F Giovanardi (Vauxhall) 91
2. J Plato (Seat) 75
3. M Neal (Vauxhall) 64
4. G Shedden (Honda) 62
5. D Turner (SEAT) 62
6. M Jackson (BMW) 59
7. T Onslow Cole (Vauxhall) 55
8. T Chilton (Honda) 37
9. A Jones (SEAT) 35
10. C Turkington (BMW) 33