MAT JACKSON | BTCC Driver | Airwaves BMW 320si | Mat reflects on fantastic season

Mat Jackson says finishing between top names Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato in the final HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship standings completed "a fantastic season" for him and his BMW Dealer Team UK squad.

Rising star Jackson won twice at Brands Hatch yesterday in his BMW 320si to end only his second season in Britain's premier motor racing series ahead of former champion Plato as runner-up to Giovanardi.

"It has been a fantastic season for everyone concerned," Jackson told BTCC.net. "The names Giovanardi and Plato are instantly recognisable and to be in there among them is significant.

"It's easy to say I finished second or in the top three but when it's ahead of someone of Jason's calibre and second only to an eight-time touring car champion it really has value. They are both star names. Had Jason and SEAT not had some bad luck then maybe I'd have been third at best but positions are won and lost over an entire season - where we've ended up is awesome."

Jackson can also boast the same number of race wins in 2008 - five - as Champion Giovanardi, although it is Plato who has ended the season ahead of them both in the victory stakes with eight first place finishes.

The 27-year-old, though, is not getting above his station and added: "Next year of course I'd want to go one better but I am still learning. In fact, the moment you think there is nothing else to learn you're going to take. Look at Fabrizio and Jason - they are 40-plus and perhaps now at the height of their powers - I've got 13 years to go before I get there and they are probably both still learning."

Looking back on his 2008, Jackson pinpointed his highs and lows and recognised where his hopes of challenging for the outright title - he actually briefly led the standings after earning the point for pole position in the season's opening qualifying session - perhaps started to fade.

The Henley-in-Arden driver said: "The lows were being knocked off into the gravel at Rockingham when I was about to take the championship lead back off Fabrizio, then getting fired off at Donington Park and also aquaplaning off the track at Croft which was down to me. Those races really cost me, as did not qualifying as well as we should - when you're starting on rows four or five then you run the risk of getting involved in the rough and tumble.

"But of course yesterday was a high point. Even after race one I didn't think catching Jason would be possible but then after race two the gap was down to five points and it really it home that it was on. To end the season with two wins in front of the Brands Hatch crowd is special.

"We also had some great results in the wet. Going from 18th to second at Croft and 13th to first at Silverstone... they were probably my favourite two races of the season."