Henley-in-Arden's Mat Jackson feels he deserved a victory in Sunday's latest rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Mat believes his ultimate results - fourth, fifth and seventh - didn't reflect the true competitiveness of his #48 Jacksons MSport team BMW 320si. Nevertheless, he's gained another place in the championship to move up to sixth overall and is now only five points away from the top of the independents standings.
In race one he drove superbly to come from ninth on the grid to finish fourth, holding at bay Vauxhall's leading driver Fabrizio Giovanardi. In race two, he challenged for the race lead but contact with Gordon Shedden's Honda damaged his BMW's steering and he eventually slipped to fifth. In race three from the front row of the grid he looked to have the legs on leader Tom Onslow-Cole until being passed by championship leader Jason Plato's SEAT.
But undeterred and live on ITV1 Mat bravely attempted to re-pass the former champion Plato for second.
Mat, aged 26, says: "Plato had passed me with a nice clean move at the Esses, but towards the end of the race he started holding me up and I could see Giovanardi getting closer in my mirrors. It was time to make my move and I thought I'd completed the manoeuvre. I went around his outside through the first part of the Esses so I was alongside him and on the inside line for the exit, but he did not see me and turned in on the normal line. We made contact and the cars slowed. I don't know why he did that, but it allowed Giovanardi to join in. It's a shame as I ended up having to go off onto the grass to avoid him and Giovanardi at the next corner and thought for a moment I was going into the barriers.
"I'm sure I'd have caught Onslow-Cole and challenged him for the win. I also think we'd have had a chance to win race two had the car not been damaged in that scrape with Shedden but that was just hard racing and I'm fine with it. Unfortunately, the tracking got knocked out and the handling was awful. I had severe understeer and we did well to rescue fifth.
"Overall I'm happy with our results but disappointed at the same time as we had really strong race pace, probably the best of anyone. Our qualifying form held us back on Saturday but we made some good changes overnight and really came back strong on race day."
Mat says he is proud with his family's team in their first year of racing in the BTCC - the top racing championship in Britain. Mat has become a hit with the huge crowds who swarm to every race meeting. He adds: "A lot of people are comparing us to Team Dynamics in the Nineties when they were in there fighting with all the big teams. It's a great feeling and the messages of support we get from the public, mostly complete strangers, during the Pit Lane Walkbout autograph sessions are really appreciated. Our aim now is to finish the season as the top BMW and to win the independents trophy." Mat's next BTCC races are at Brands Hatch in Kent on Sunday August 19th.
Latest BTCC points: 1st Jason Plato 209; 2nd Fabrizio Giovanardi 195; 3rd Matt Neal 4th Gordon Shedden 5th Colin Turkington 113; 6th Mat Jackson 111 etc.
Independent Drivers: 1st Mike Jordan 195; 2nd Mat Jackson 190; 3rd Tom Onslow-Cole 178 etc.
Teams: 1st SEAT Sport UK 302; 2nd VX Racing 290; 3rd Team Halfords 278; 4th Team RAC 194; 5th Jacksons MSport 109 etc.
Henley-in-Arden's Mat Jackson feels he deserved a victory in Sunday's latest rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. 
