Mat Jackson takes the spoils in second Knockhill race
Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson produced a perfect drive to win the second race at Knockhill, taking a first win for himself and the team since Silverstone 2012, with the championship fight being turned on its head once more.
Jackson took the lead on lap three in his Ford Focus ST, when early leader Matt Neal was called in to serve a drive-through penalty for creeping at the start, and held a comfortable gap to Triple Eight’s Jason Plato throughout.
Rob Austin took a second podium of the day in third, but perhaps the most significant result was West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington carving his way through to fourth from 27th on the grid, and setting fastest lap by nearly half a second.
Adding significance to the 2009 champion’s result was contact between Austin and Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden at Scotsman’s on the first lap, which spun the Scot to the tail of the field. He recovered to 12th, but the championship pendulum has swung back in Turkington’s favour again.
Turkington’s team-mate Rob Collard also had a strong race to fifth, ahead of Adam Morgan, while Tom Ingram, Dave Newsham, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Nick Foster completed the top 10.
Foster drew himself out of the hat for reverse grid pole, after drama on the final lap when he and Team BMR’s Aron Smith made contact along the pit straight, with the Volkswagen CC ending up in the barriers.
Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan, who also started at the back, fought through to 11th, just missing out on pole for the finale.
Unlike race one, the drama started on the first lap when Neal crept off the line early, and the fast-starting Austin tried to pass him around the outside into Duffus Dip. The Audi ran slightly wide, allowing Shedden past, and as Austin rejoined, he tapped the Civic Tourer into a spin.
Warren Scott span off and collected Team BMR team-mate Jack Goff at the same turn, causing the safety car to be deployed for a solitary lap.
And when it pulled in, Turkington commenced his charge. He was up to 14th by lap four, when he passed Glynn Geddie at the hairpin, then quickly passed Jack Clarke and Alain Menu on lap seven.
Jordan’s team-mate Martin Depper was tipped into the barriers and retirement by the recovering Neal on lap nine, before Turkington passed Giovanardi on lap 15, and Newsham on lap 19.
Ingram was dispatched at the hairpin on the following lap, before Collard fell victim at Clark’s and Morgan out of the hairpin on lap 22.
It was one of the drives of the season from Turkington, who has wrested back the advantage from Shedden after his first race retirement.
