Henley-in-Arden's Mat Jackson could end his debut Dunlop British Touring Car Championship season a champion at the high speed Thruxton track this weekend (October 13th-14th).

Mat is one of four drivers in the hunt for the prestigious Independents Drivers title for privateer entries. He is currently 19 points behind leader Mike Jordan in the indie standings with a possible 45 available from Sunday's three races.

A strong final meeting for Mat could also elevate him as high as sixth in the final outright Drivers' championship table. He is currently 23 points behind official SEAT team driver Darren Turner and is already guaranteed to finish ahead of factory Vauxhall driver Tom Chilton.

Mat and his family-run Jacksons MSport team have gained a huge following amongst the hundreds of thousands of fans who have attended this season's BTCC race events. The big highlight came in June when Mat held off SEAT driver Jason Plato at Oulton Park for a famous maiden victory.

Mat, aged 26, says "Whatever happens this weekend, first of all I want to thank all the people - sponsors, parts suppliers, fans, officials and fellow teams - who have got behind our first BTCC season. Their support has come in many different ways and has been invaluable.

"Thruxton was very unkind to us back in May when we had to retire from race one with accident damage and an engine problem which meant we couldn't contest races 2 and 3 but this time we are optimistic things will be a lot different. We know why we had the problem and have put contingencies in place. In fact if we've got our maths right we may have one of the fastest cars in a straight line.

"Perhaps the biggest factor as ever at Thruxton will be tyre performance. The Thruxton tyre that Dunlop provide didn't suit the rear-wheel-drive of the BMW in May but we took a lot of technical data away and hope we can get it working much better this time around. If it hadn't been for that meeting we'd have been leading the Indie table by quite some way.

"As for the Indie title it's wide open. Mike Jordan had a great run last time at Thruxton but there are 45 points to be won. This is the final round and some odd things can happen and there are other pressures to consider. We'll see what happens."

Watch Mat in his #48 BMW on ITV this Sunday: ITV4 12.30pm-2pm Races 1 & 2 (includes live coverage) ITV1 3.30pm-5pm Re-runs of Races 1 & 2 plus Race 3 Live Setanta Sports 1: 10am-6pm All-day Live coverage

Mat's Thruxton Timetable: Saturday: 9.30am-10.10am & 12.10pm-12.50pm Practice sessions 1 & 2 Saturday: 3.10pm-3.40pm Qualifying Sunday: 9.45am-10.35am Pit Lane Walkabout/Fans Autograph Session Sunday: 11.00am BTCC Round 28 (16 laps) Sunday: 1.10pm BTCC Round 29 (16 laps) Sunday: 4.20pm BTCC Round 30 (16 laps)

For more information contact: Tony Jackson, tel 01564 793050 or email matjacksonmedia@hotmail.co.uk
Mat Jackson's website: www.matjackson.com