Mat Jackson rescues win from troubled weekend

Mat Jackson left Oulton Park a stone’s throw away from the championship lead after a low scoring round for many of the drivers at the front of the championship.

Jackson qualified in 10th place and was out of qualifying early after spinning off on team-mate Liam Griffin’s oil, with both of the team’s cars requiring repairs overnight.

The Motorbase Performance driver then retired in race one with an engine problem, but managed to battle back to ninth place from the last row on the grid, which proved vital when the draw confirmed that the top nine would be reversed for race three.

“In the five years I’ve been in the BTCC I’ve never been drawn on pole for the reversed grid race three so I was shocked when my number came out! Thanks Andy Powell!” said Jackson.

“It’s not necessarily the way I want to win races but after the day we were having up until then it was just what we needed”

“From a driver’s point of view it is extra special to win at a circuit like Oulton which is regarded as one of the most challenging tracks around.

“Luckily Neal, the championship leader, had a bit of a troubled day so I’ve actually reduced the gap to him from 12 points to seven which is nothing considering there’s 16 for a win. If we’d not had such bad luck at Oulton we would probably be leading it and almost certainly be well clear in the Independents as well.”