Jackson: “All Still To Play For”
Mat Jackson kept his chances of his first British Touring Car Championship title alive after his second place finish during race one on the Brands Hatch GP circuit.
The Henley-in-Arden racer started the first race of the day from 7th on the grid but a non starter for Andrew Jordan and punctures for the two Honda drivers of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden meant that 30-year old would be catapulted up to 4th place. Late moves on Independent title rival, James Nash and Alex MacDowall resulted in Jackson’s 37th podium finish of his BTCC career and his first points finish since his race three win at Snetterton.
“It’s been frustrating to not have been scoring points and watching the championship slip away but it’s been good to come here and get a good result in the first race. It sets us up for a good weekend,” said Jackson.
Mat Jackson lies fourth in the overall drivers championship but has closed the gap to the leaders down to 33 points with five races of the championship remaining. “We’re starting off the front row of the grid for race two so hopefully we can capitalise on it and move forward.”
Talking about his hopes of taking the title he said, “All we can do is score points. If that’s not enough then it’s not enough. We just need to score as many points as we can. If we can go into Silverstone with an outside chance then that will be brilliant.”
“It worked in our favour with the Honda’s failing to score and it’s going to be intriguing to see if they can get into a points position for this race. I think it’s fair to say that it’s a’ll still to play for.”
“It’s going to be an exciting final.”
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
James Mappin
