BTCC Brands Hatch: Mat Jackson takes third straight pole position
Mat Jackson will start Sunday's opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch from pole position in his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus after setting a record-breaking pace in qualifying
The 34-year-old set three laps that would have been good enough for pole, and his 1m30.685s lap was 0.6s faster than last season's benchmark to seal his third pole in a row.
"We have had a great season half of the year," said Jackson, who rejoined the category from Snetterton in early August.
"We are lucky that we haven't got any success ballast, but the car has simply been amazing. It is a credit to the team."
He topped Aron Smith's Team BMR VW CC by 0.126s and Adam Morgan's Ciceley Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
Championship leader Gordon Shedden missed out on the point for pole, but his fourth place start makes him the highest placed of those who are chasing the title.
Shedden's Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R set a late lap to eclipse Colin Turkington's Team BMR VW CC and Jason Plato's sister machine.
Matt Neal will line up in eighth place in the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R, just behind Tom Ingram's Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis.
The only other man with a chance of the crown, Andrew Jordan, will start from 13th place in the Triple Eight Racing MG6.
RACE ONE GRID
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 1m30.685s |
2 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 0.126s |
3 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 0.213s |
4 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 0.216s |
5 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 0.260s |
6 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 0.348s |
7 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 0.356s |
8 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 0.403s |
9 | Andy Priaulx | WSR | BMW | 0.421s |
10 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 0.460s |
11 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 0.474s |
12 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 0.509s |
13 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 0.559s |
14 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 0.781s |
15 | Alain Menu | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 0.893s |
16 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 0.961s |
17 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 0.992s |
18 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 1.086s |
19 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 1.200s |
20 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 1.224s |
21 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 1.265s |
22 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 1.269s |
23 | Jake Hill | AmD | Audi | 1.353s |
24 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 1.644s |
25 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 2.245s |
26 | Tony Gilham | Team Hard | Toyota | 2.475s |
27 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 2.718s |
28 | Simon Belcher | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 3.118s |
29 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 3.377s |
30 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 3.477s |
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