Henley-in-Arden's Mat Jackson is a hot new name on British motor sport's lips after his stunning debut in Sunday's Dunlop British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.
Mat outperformed all the leading drivers including Jason Plato and reigning champion Matt Neal at some point during the weekend and came away with an army of new fans. His performances also received great support from sponsors Whale Tankers and Maxim magazine who journeyed to Kent to cheer on their driver. There would be a big treat in store for them when Mat ended the day in third place on the podium alongside Neal and another of touring car racing's greats Fabrizio Giovanardi.
The 25-year-old will go into the next rounds at Rockingham on April 22nd lying seventh in the overall championship standings and already some are tipping him as a possible title bet in his first BTCC season.
Mat's race weekend began early when he took part in the BTCC's schools visit programme on Friday, happily signing autographs for a class of 30 primary schoolkids and showing them around his pit garage and prized BMW 320si. And his fan base swelled even further on Sunday when, accompanied by his Maxim grid girls, he was on hand to sign thousands of photos during the public's hugely popular Pit Lane Walkabout session.
On the track on Saturday morning he instantly made his presence felt with the ninth and then third fastest times in the two free practice sessions. The afternoon's 'pressure-cooker' qualifying session, when timing a flying lap with 26 drivers on the short Brands Indy track was crucial, followed and Mat set the sixth fastest time to put him on the third row of the grid Sunday's opening round.
With a lightning start Mat moved into third place by the first bend and kept up the pressure on winner Plato and second-placed Colin Turkington's BMW only to be later excluded for missing a flag signal asking him to make a pit stop. The exclusion relegated Mat to last on the grid for round two but he showed no signs of being deterred and put in another star drive as he came through to finish eighth, right behind Giovanardi's works Vauxhall!
Race three was when it all finally came good for Mat: after being interviewed live by ITV's Louise Goodman on the standing grid, he was soon past Plato and up into fourth and challenging the second SEAT of Darren Turner. He finally got past with a great move around the outside exiting Clark Curve and at the line had again closed right up to second-placed Giovanardi. Even winner Neal later admitted that had Mat not become stuck behind Turner for so long then he would likely have been challenging for the victory.
Mat Jackson: BMW 320si E90, car #48 "It's been an awesome weekend and had it not been for the gearbox problem in race one we'd have had two podiums. But I put my hands up for my exclusion - I missed the black and orange flag and my pits-to-car radio wasn't working so the team couldn't inform me either. But the buck still stops with me and I paid the penalty and completely respect the official's decision.
"I was really happy in race two to demonstrate that, even though the car still had to carry success ballast for crossing the line in third (an extra 27kgs), it still had great pace from start to finish. BMW have designed and built an awesome piece of kit in the 320si. Passing all those cars was great fun, but you have to have all you wits about you. Some cars change direction very quickly!
"To get up to third in race three was a great way to finish an excellent weekend for everyone involved in our team. We are still new to this game but learning every time the car completes a lap. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Neal, Plato and Giovanardi and their teams is a tremendous buzz and we've all raised our game as a result. I think people can see we mean business and with no success ballast on our car going into Rockingham I'm confident we can qualify even higher and be in the hunt for our first victory."
BTCC points (provisional): Drivers: 1st Jason Plato 41pts; 2nd Matt Neal 32; 3rd Colin Turkington 25; 4th Tom Chilton 17; 5th Fabrizio Giovanardi 17; 6th Adam Jones 15; 7th Mat Jackson 14 etc. Teams: 1st SEAT Sport UK 46; 2nd VX Racing 36; 3rd Team RAC 35; 4th Team Halfords 34; 5th Team Air Cool 15; 6th Jacksons MSport 13 etc. Independents drivers: 1st Adam Jones 32; 2nd Colin Turkington 30; 3rd Mat Jackson 26 etc. Independent teams: 1st Team RAC 40; 2nd Team Air Cool 34; 3rd Jacksons MSport 26 etc.
