Henley-in-Arden's Dunlop British Touring Car star Mat Jackson says his luckless Thruxton meeting on Sunday (May 6th) was a one-off and he'll be back on front-running form in the championship's next rounds. Mat retired from Thruxton's first race with accident damage to his Jacksons MSport 320si E90 after it collided with Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic.
In race two, sensing a problem with his his car's engine, he switched off and pulled up by the side of the track but the problems would also prevent him from starting the day's third race.
"Everyone has a bad weekend and hopefully ours is now out of the way. We're strong enough to take this on the chin but we all know we can't afford for it to happen again," says Mat. "I've lost ground in the title race, but I expect us to be right back where we belong, fighting for race wins and podium results at Croft in four weeks."
Prior to his race one retirement at Thruxton, Mat had a brief opportunity to show why he is regarded as a future great in the BTCC as he battled for position into the first sequence of corners with reigning champion Matt Neal.
But says 25-year-old Mat: "He squeezed me up to the edge of the track under braking which is fine, but then kept moving over and put me on the grass. That oversteps the mark in my book. I had no braking and went straight on into his team-mate Shedden who I felt quite sorry for."
Mat believes his engine problems in race two were caused by too short a final drive in the car's transmission. He adds: "The engine was hitting the rev limiter way too early on the straights. Hopefully I killed the ignition before any major damage was done but we need to have a thorough examination. The same problem kept us back in 12th in qualifying, but I knew we had good tyre wear so had expected to make up places in the races."
Despite his disappointments, Whale/Maxim-backed driver Mat's profile continues to rise - he's just been focus of a double-page article in the UK's top motoring magazine Auto Express read by around 250,000 people a week and was also chosen by ITV for their driver feature prior to Sunday's race coverage. It all adds up to great exposure for those involved with the Jacksons MSport team.
"It was great fun putting that together," says Mat. "The crew and presenter Louise Goodman came up to Henley-in-Arden the Thursday before and we spent the day filming at my place and zipping about on dirt bikes. The media and PR-side of the sport are all part of being a BTCC driver and something I really enjoy taking part in. At the end of the day we're there to put a shown on for the public."
BTCC drivers after 9 rounds: 1st Jason Plato 107; 2nd Fabrizio Giovanardi 98; 3rd Tom Chilton 68 etc. 8th Mat Jackson 35 etc.
Independent drivers: 1st Mike Jordan 83; 2nd Tom Onslow-Cole 74; 3rd Colin Turkington 69; 4th Mat Jackson 60 etc.
Teams: 1st VX Racing 158; 2nd SEAT Sport UK 139; 3rd Team Halfords 96 etc. 6th Jacksons MSport 34 etc.
Independent Teams: 1st Team REAC 102; 2nd Eurotech 85; 3rd Motorbase 72; 4th Jacksons MSport 60 etc.
