Jackson wins hectic final race

Mat Jackson secured a third podium at Knockhill with the Racing Silverline Chevrolet, as team mate Jason Plato put on a magnificent performance to drive his car from last place to second to keep in outside contention for the championship.

Fabrizio Giovanardi finished 3rd, reducing the championship lead to just 9 points.

In a race filled with daring overtaking maneovres, and all new racing lines, the field were tested to their limits to keep on track and get a good result. Despite some of the most interesting racing seen all season, there were very few incidents that actually put cars off the circuit.

A notable exception is Gordon Shedden, whom had contact with Rob Collard at the end of lap one and was sent off into the tyre barrier. Collard also could not continue.

Collard’s team mate Jonathan Adam also retired whilst under the safety car, as his fire extinguisher was set off for an unknown reason.

After the restart, double BTCC champion Thompson fought hard to keep his Team Dynamics Honda Civic in the lead ahead of fellow double champ Matt Neal – almost driving as if he knew he wasn’t coming back, and after taking a deliberately wide line to cut inside the Vauxhall after Neal had seemed to pass him, made slight contact which unsettled both cars and allowed the Racing Silverline Chevrolet of Mat Jackson to sneak through into the lead.

All the while, Jason Plato was carving his way through the field, and after making a safe pass on Giovanardi, had to face Matt Neal for second place. After several laps, Plato was able to sneak past the Vauxhall driver with surprisingly little contact just two laps from the end to gain second place.

Team orders were not in place for Racing Silverline though, as Mat Jackson took his second win of the season, his first since his season debut at Thruxton.

The same could not be said for Vauxhall however, who appear to have decided to back Giovanardi’s challenge, despite the fact that Neal himself was the lead Vauxhall driver at the mid-season break. Matt slowed to allow the Italian through into third, which closes the championship down to 9 points between Giovanardi and Team RAC driver Colin Turkington, whom could only finish fifth.

Plato is now 49 points behind Turkington heading into the last three rounds of the season.