Jackson takes race three at Thruxton

Matt Jackson became the sixth different race winner from six races in 2009, as he took victory at Thruxton, his first in the Chevrolet Lacetti on his return to the BTCC, ahead of Adam Jones and James Thompson.

Jackson made an excellent start to get ahead of pole sitter Paul O’Neill and into a lead he’d never relinquish. Behind him Jones took Cartridge World’s first podium, while another series returnee, Thompson, was promoted onto the podium thanks to a late puncture for O’Neill.

The Lacetti led comfortably from Jones, who jumped O’Neill at the start, with the trio pulling clear of the chasing pack led by an entertaining dice between Thompson and Collard.

O’Neill was back into second just before the safety car was brought out thanks to John George’s off out the back of the circuit at Goodwood.

A lengthy period behind the pace car followed while George’s Honda was collected, extending the race distance to 19 laps.

On the restart Jackson floored it early, quickly building a large lead from O’Neill, who was fighting off the close attentions of Jones’ SEAT. A puncture would cost the Techspeed run man dear though, sending him to the pits on lap 17 and turning the fight for the final podium spot into a eight car battle, led by Thompson’s Civic.

The double BTCC champion held onto third in his first meeting in the Honda, as behind him Vauxhall teammates Matt Neal and Fabrizio Giovanardi squabbled with Rob Collard and Stephen Jelley throughout the final lap, allowing Jason Plato to the head of the train for fourth.

Behind Collard took fifth, with Jelley’s BMW in sixth and the pair of VX Racing cars in seventh and eighth ahead of Colin Turkington and David Pinkney’s Civic, which rounded out the top ten.

Speaking post-race, Jackson was understandably delighted with his win, saying, “It’s fantastic for the team, as it was obviously a very late deal we’ve put together. Everybody at RML has done a fantastic job this weekend, and the Lacetti has done us proud.

We got a blinding restart, and that was pretty much where the race was won.”

Matt Neal retains his championship lead, moving onto 64 points ahead of Colin Turkington on 58 points, and 2008 champion Fabrizio Giovanardi on 47 points.