Mat Jackson takes win in thrilling Silverstone finale
Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson took a classy win in a thrilling final race at Silverstone, with Team BMR’s Aron Smith second, and Colin Turkington surviving an almighty six-car scrap to finish third and move ever closer to a second BTCC crown.
In a vintage race three, Jackson took the lead from pole man and team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi at Luffield on lap one, just as the safety car had been deployed for an incident between James Cole and Robb Holland.
After the restart, Smith passed Giovanardi on the exit of Copse on lap seven and pulled away, with all the action happening in a huge train behind the Italian.
Giovanardi resisted pressure from Turkington for several laps before the West Surrey Racing man outbraked the Ford Focus into Brooklands, triggering one of the all-time classic BTCC laps.
Giovanardi fought back into Luffield and across the stripe, with Alain Menu getting in on the act and passing both into Copse. As all three ran wide, Turkington somehow found a gap on the inside into Becketts; but was tapped from behind by Jason Plato, and cannoned into Giovanardi, which span the Italian down to 11th.
Turkington was pressured by Plato but managed to draw away slightly, giving him a 50-point cushion going into Brands Hatch, with a maximum of 67 left to play for.
Menu eventually finished fifth ahead of the charging Andrew Jordan and Adam Morgan, with Gordon Shedden eighth, Warren Scott matching his best ever result in ninth, and Jack Goff ensuring all Volkswagen CCs finished in the top 10.
The drama started before the race had even begun.
Front row starter Sam Tordoff’s MG6 started smoking heavily as the cars were waved away on their green flag lap, and he was pushed off the grid by the marshals.
The problem was unsurprisingly diagnosed as an engine failure, and caused the start to be delayed, and the race distance to be reduced by a lap.
The safety car was then deployed when United Autosports’ Cole spun after contact with Hunter Abbott, and Rotek Racing’s Holland couldn’t avoid him. The hefty shunt left Cole’s Toyota Avensis with significant damage to the driver’s side door, and Holland with front end damage.
Eurotech Racing’s Martin Depper also went straight to the scene of the accident, but managed to continue, and rejoin a lap down.
In the end, Jackson won comfortably by nearly three seconds, but there was some uncertainty about the result. Giovanardi passed Jackson before they reached the safety car board, and appeared to let him back past. The pair swapped places again under the safety car, which Smith questioned.
However, Motorbase later confirmed they had been allowed to let the cars switch the positions back, and the matter wasn’t investigated.
