Mat Jackson closed the gap on Matt Neal as he took the chequered flag for the final race and moved to within seven points of championship leader in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The weekend was looking to be one to forget for the Henley-in-Arden racer as he struggled during qualifying and could only manage 10th on the grid before having to prematurely end his race during race one after a engine problem giving Mat his first non-points scoring finish of the season.

Things then started to go right for Jackson as he made his way through the field in the tricky weather conditions of race two, making up 12 positions before capitalising on the misfortunes of the two Honda drivers to take 9th and two points towards his championship assault.

Luck certainly changed for race three which saw Mat take pole position from the reverse grid draw. Despite being beaten off the line by the BMW of Nick Foster, the 29-year old soon regained the lead and never looked back even if he had to do it for a second time following the brief safety car period.

The win was Mat’s second win of the season and his fifth visit to the podium and sees him lie third in the drivers championship and second in the independents championship standings.

Reflecting on the weekend, Mat said, “It was a full on weekend of highs and lows.”

“I couldn’t believe it when the reverse grid actually went in our favour, after the luck we’d had all weekend, this was actually the first time in 5 years that I’d got a pole position out of the reverse grid, so I was pretty stunned! It was fantastic to be able to capitalise on our little bit of good fortune and for the Focus to put in such a convincing win over the Honda.”

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.