BMW Dealer Team UK driver Mat Jackson brought his 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car campaign to a celebratory end today as he claimed two consecutive victories and finished in fourth place in the final race of the year. As a result of his superb results the Accident Exchange-backed driver finished second in both the overall Championship standings and the Independents’ Trophy.

 

In race one Jackson had the best possible start to the day. Starting from second on the grid he quickly tucked in behind pole sitter Stephen Jelley on the run to the first turn. Determined as ever Jackson passed his fellow BMW driver to claim the lead at the end of the opening lap. Demonstrating the superb handling of the BMW320si Jackson was soon in a race of his own; opening up a five second advantage by lap 17. Despite the changing order of the ensuing pack Jackson was never closely challenged for the lead and the 27-year-old returned home victorious with a valuable 16 points in the bag, which ultimately placed him in third place in the Championship standings.

 

For race two Jackson started from pole and quickly converted it into a flawless drive netting him his fifth victory of the 2008 BTCC season. Jackson, who also set the fastest lap of the race on lap two, claimed 17 points. The retirement of SEAT driver Jason Plato on lap 11 put Jackson within firm reach of claiming the 2008 runners’-up position with only five points separating them.

 

As Jackson started the final fixture of the year from eighth on the grid he had everything to play for as he went in search of the runner-up positions. By the end of the first lap Mat was running in sixth place but the safety car was soon deployed for eight laps. Once the race recommenced, on lap ten, Jackson looked to pass Rob Collard, with Plato running in 13th Mat need a fifth place finish to take the runner-up spoils. On lap 23 Mat moved up to fifth and then as drivers went wide at Paddock Hill he claimed another position, Jackson ultimately finished in fourth place, rounding off the team’s most successful point-scoring weekend with a second place in the overall Championship standings. Jackson also finished runner-up in the Independents Trophy behind his season-long rival Colin Turkington.

 

Jackson commented: “What a fantastic result to finish the season off with. We came here with the aim to take third in the overall Championship; we thought that was a realistic result, we didn’t actually think about finishing second, so as you can imagine we are all chuffed to bits. The team has worked really hard all year and done a fantastic job, which has paid off. We have also had great support from our sponsors Accident Exchange and I would like to thank them all. It has been a good season, certainly challenging at times but moments like this it all worthwhile. It would have been nice to get the Independents’ trophy but we were just 11 points shy at the end of the day.”

Team Principal Tony Jackson commented, “We are all delighted with the result today, everything came together, two wins and a strong performance in the final race. Everyone has done a superb job, I’d like to thank our sponsors Accident Exchange and our supporters and fans, and now we are just going to enjoy the celebrations. ”

 

Race One Result
1. M Jackson    BMW
2. S Kane               BMW
3. R Collard            BMW
4. C Turkington BMW
5. J Plato              SEAT
6. M Neal               Vauxhall
7. D Turner             SEAT
8. T Chilton            Honda
9. T Onslow-Cole        Vauxhall

 

Race Two Result
1. M Jackson    BMW
2. M Neal               Vauxhall
3. C Turkington BMW
4. R Collard            BMW
5. S Kane               BMW
6. T Chilton            Honda
7. A Jordan             Honda
8. T Onslow Cole        Vauxhall
9. G Shedden    Honda

 

Race Three Result
1. T Chilton            (Honda)
2. S Kane               (BMW)
3. T Onslow Cole        (Vauxhall)
4. M Jackson    (BMW)
5. C Turkington (BMW)
6. R Collard            (BMW)
7. A Jordan             (BMW)
8. M Neal               (Honda)
9. G Shedden    (Honda)
10. M Jordan            (Honda)

 

Championship Standings – Top Ten
F Giovanardi    262
M Jackson       226
J Plato         223
C Turkington    212
M Neal          185
T Onslow Cole   170
G Shedden       144
D Turner                133
A Jones         119
T Chilton               107

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3.23 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."