“We’ll go to Brands with all guns blazing” pledges title contender Mat Jackson

Mat Jackson says it is a great moment for Motorbase Performance to be heading into BTCC finals weekend with both the team’s drivers in contention for the overall championship crown.

David Bartrum’s squad has already wrapped up the Independents teams trophy, with Jackson and Andrew Jordan set to duke it out for Independent driver honours.

But after a strong weekend at Silverstone, which saw a win for Jordan in race two and a second for Jackson in the third encounter, both men still have a realistic chance of overall title success at Brands Hatch next month.

Jackson is fifth in the standings, 21 points behind West Surrey Racing’s Sam Tordoff, with Jordan sixth and a further 10 points behind. Meanwhile, Jordan has the upper hand by 34 points over Jackson in the Independents table, with an unassailable gap to Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan in third.

After struggling home 17th on the soft tyre in race one, Jackson recovered to sixth in the second race and bagged a podium spot in the finale.

Assessing his weekend, Jackson told TouringCarTimes: “The first race wasn’t good – we were pretty much the guinea pigs, and what we learned helped Andrew [Jordan] and the others. But we managed to salvage something, and that’s the key.

“We’re in contention and one race win away from the lead. It’s just frustrating when you look at what we’ve thrown away, but everyone can say the same thing.”

Jackson was in dominant form around the spectacular Grand Prix loop at last season’s finale, and is in a fighting mood ahead of this year’s season ender.

“The car’s always gone well at Brands, and anything can happen around there. Obviously the championship is very close, and it can all kick off,” he said.

“I’ve been here a long time and we’ve been banging away at this for a long time. The team are up for it and we want to do this. To go there with two drivers [in contention] is great. We’ll go there with all guns blazing.”