Mat Jackson had a tough race weekend at Oulton Park, slipping from the lead of the independents’ fight to third, with his involvement in two incidents seeing him collect a four point endorsement on his racing licence.
The points are Jackson’s first in the last two seasons. The first two were awarded after the race two clash with West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard. Collard’s BMW was leading with Jackson fighting with him for P1 in the Ford Focus ST, before the two made contact on lap seven at the Island Hairpin. Both cars suffered punctures and had to pit, handing the lead to Honda’s Gordon Shedden.
“It’s disappointing, we had a good race through and it’s unfortunate to end up in a situation as we did,” said Jackson to TouringCarTimes.
“You see it every year when people want to try and steer people off in a straight line, and funnily enough it’s always at the same corner.”
Jackson believed he had the overlap on Collard through the Island Hairpin, but Collard chopped across the nose of the Ford which ended the two drivers race.
“I had to physically come off and hit the brakes as to not put Rob through the wall, is that really my decision to make? He chose to steer me off on to the grass. It’s cost Rob a win or a second, and it’s cost us a race.”
Rob Collard saw differently, and said the contact at the Island Hairpin was just the end of the incident, as Jackson had been tapping the back of his rear-wheel drive BMW for several laps.
“With what Jackson did I’m really annoyed,” said Collard to TouringCarTimes. “It’s the first time this year I’ve been outside the top eight. He constantly rammed me for about three or four laps into the hairpin, that’s not racing.”
The stewards deemed the contact at Island as a racing incident, but saw Jackson was at fault for the contact on the way into the corner and gave him a two point endorsement. The 31-year-old then received a further two points after a coming together with Dan Welch’s Proton Persona in the final race of the day. Jackson would go on to finish seventh in the race and still collect some points in the independents’ standings.
Jackson slips from the lead before Oulton Park to third, 11 points behind Eurotech Honda’s Andrew Jordan and five points behind Rob Collard, as the three drivers begin to breakaway at the head of the independents’ classification.
