Silverstone BTCC: Jackson wins finale, Turkington closes on title
Mat Jackson won the reversed-grid British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone after a dramatic battle involving the title contenders
Jackson jumped to second , behind Motorbase Ford Focus team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, and found a way alongside the Italian through Luffield at the end of lap one.
Jackson passed on the run to the line, only to back off and let the other Focus back by due to the safety car appearing after an incident involving James Cole, Robb Holland and Martin Depper.
During the long safety car period, Giovanardi allowed Jackson back into the lead and then had a slide through Luffield at the restart.
As Jackson made his escape, Giovanardi slowed Aron Smith (BMR Volkswagen) enough for Colin Turkington to pass him before the line, but the WSR BMW driver immediately handed the place back.
Smith soon made it by Giovanardi into second, but he could not catch former team-mate Jackson, who took the flag 2.8 seconds clear.
Giovanardi was a much harder nut to crack for Turkington, with some near misses allowing a pack to build up behind the duel.
On lap 18 of 24, Turkington finally dived by the Ford into Brooklands, only to get a hit from Giovanardi into Luffield.
That allowed Alain Menu to get a run on both and they ran three-abreast on the run to Copse, where Turkington found himself back to fifth.
As Giovanardi and Menu fought through the corner, however, the championship leader got a better run and made it three-wide once again on the approach to Becketts.
Holding the inside line, Turkington looked to have secured the spot, but got a hit from Jason Plato's MG, pushing the BMW into Giovanardi and causing the Ford to have a big slide.
Turkington held on to his BMW and defended the inside line, holding back Plato and the jostling pack into Brooklands.
He then edged away to secure his third podium of the day, though Plato's fourth place was enough to take the championship fight to the Brands Hatch finale.
Menu finished fifth, while Andrew Jordan completed a quietly impressive weekend with sixth in his Eurotech Honda Civic.
Adam Morgan completed a good recovery from his race-one woes by charging to seventh and taking fastest lap, while Gordon Shedden defeated Warren Scott (BMR VW) for eighth.
Giovanardi eventually came home 11th.
MG's chances of completing a Silverstone hat-trick took a dive early on, when Sam Tordoff, set to start on the front row, suffered an engine failure on the green flag lap.
RESULTS - 24 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 26m31.087s |
2 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 2.753s |
3 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 5.257s |
4 | Jason Plato | Triple Eight | MG | 5.972s |
5 | Alain Menu | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 6.303s |
6 | Andrew Jordan | Eurotech | Honda | 6.926s |
7 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 7.245s |
8 | Gordon Shedden | Team Dynamics | Honda | 8.121s |
9 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 8.384s |
10 | Jack Goff | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 8.839s |
11 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Motorbase | Ford | 9.427s |
12 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 9.751s |
13 | Jack Clarke | Motorbase | Ford | 11.464s |
14 | Dave Newsham | AmD | Ford | 13.901s |
15 | Nick Foster | WSR | BMW | 15.017s |
16 | Marc Hynes | Triple Eight | MG | 16.698s |
17 | Aiden Moffat | Moffat | Chevrolet | 16.943s |
18 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 17.106s |
19 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 18.044s |
20 | Lea Wood | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 19.298s |
21 | Chris Stockton | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | 32.550s |
22 | Simon Belcher | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 33.190s |
23 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 44.268s |
24 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 1 Lap |
- | Luke Hines | United Autosports | Toyota | Retirement |
- | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | Retirement |
- | Ollie Jackson | Welch Motorsport | Proton | Not started |
- | Robb Holland | Rotek Racing | Audi | Retirement |
- | Sam Tordoff | Triple Eight | MG | Retirement |
- | James Cole | United Autosports | Toyota | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Colin Turkington | 417 |
2 | Jason Plato | 367 |
3 | Gordon Shedden | 317 |
4 | Mat Jackson | 283 |
5 | Andrew Jordan | 279 |
6 | Rob Collard | 251 |
7 | Matt Neal | 207 |
8 | Sam Tordoff | 207 |
9 | Aron Taylor-Smith | 176 |
10 | Alain Menu | 173 |
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