Motorbase Performance re-learning the ropes on BTCC return

Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson says the team’s biggest challenge on returning to the BTCC was to understand the way the series has changed in their absence, after securing a best result of sixth in the final race of the day.

Both Jackson and new team-mate James Cole made forward progress throughout the Snetterton races in their Ford Focus STs, with Cole securing a career-best 11th in the second encounter.

Jackson said the weekend had been frustrating at times, but he was happy to take a positive result into the next round at Knockhill, where he and the team have traditionally performed well.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Jackson said: “The championship in certain areas has changed since we went away, and trying to understand that and get the knowledge of what’s different has been frustrating.

“We’ve gone forward in every race, and in the last race we managed to rescue something. The car’s got better and better all weekend and we’re quite pleased with the result in race three.

“We’re on the back foot in terms of the changes that have happened with the suppliers to the championship, and it’s thrown us a bit of a curveball.

“Hopefully we can go to Knockhill and make more progress on what we’ve learned this weekend. We really need to go through the data and get the car back to where it should be.”

The weekend also saw the competitive debut of the new Ford Ecoboost engine, which Jackson described as “awesome.” “It hasn’t missed a beat,” he added.

For Cole, a chance of improving on his 11th place in race two ended with suspension damage in the day’s finale.

He said: “I’m happy with how we finished the weekend, it’s much better than we expected at the start of the day we’ve come on leaps and bounds with the car. I’ve also achieved my highest position finish which we didn’t expect from 23rd on the grid; to make that many places up is fantastic and a great job by the team.

“My pace was getting closer to Mat over the day; it’s just a shame that race three ended as it did through no fault of my own when we were looking good for a top ten finish.”