Mat Jackson wins second Brands race, title goes to the wire
Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson made it two wins from two in the second race at Brands Hatch – and the title will go to the wire, after Team BMR’s Jason Plato finished sixth and Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden non-scored in 19th.
Jackson led every lap from pole position, first holding off the attentions of Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan and then Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, who passed Morgan on lap 14 in another safety car affected race.
And the title battle took a hugely significant turn, with the soft-tyre shod Shedden struggling throughout from 13th on the grid and losing several places in the final stages.
Plato now needs to finish fourth or better to take the title, whereas Shedden can wrap up a second crown by finishing fifth or better – but he will have to do it from the 10th row of the grid.
Behind the top three, Power Maxed Racing’s Dave Newsham equalled his best result of the year in fourth ahead of Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff and Plato. Shedden’s team-mate Neal was seventh, his bid to catch Plato halted by the stout defensive driving of Aron Smith, who finished eighth ahead of Andy Priaulx and Rob Collard.
Adding a further layer of intrigue for the last race, Neal was pulled on pole position by series director Alan Gow, and Plato will start alongside him.
The drama was evident from the opening lap, which saw Plato maintain position and Shedden fall down to 16th, before a third safety car of the day was deployed after an incident involving Eurotech Racing’s Martin Depper and Rob Austin Racing’s Rob Austin. Depper had a huge tank-slapper exiting Clearways and Austin couldn’t avoid him, with both cars ending in the gravel with heavy damage.
Support Our Paras Racing’s Derek Palmer also exited in a separate incident, causing a five lap safety car period. After the restart, Plato instantly passed Priaulx for seventh into Paddock Hill, while Shedden struggled to pass the Honda Civic of Jeff Smith for 15th.
Newsham then passed Goff in a decisive move into Paddock before dealing with Smith at Clearways, and on the next lap the Irishman pulled over up Hawthorn Hill to allow Plato to take an extra place.
Shedden’s stark race took another turn for the worse on lap 14 when he slid wide at Westfield, dropping to 18th, before Ingram passed Morgan to equal his best career result.
Both Neal and Colin Turkington are also out of the championship battle, with the defending champion stopping on the circuit on the last lap.
The final race of the season gets underway at 17:09 BST.
