Mat Jackson joins Andrew Jordan at Motorbase Ford BTCC squad
British Touring Car Championship race winner Mat Jackson will complete the Motorbase Performance line-up in the series this season at the wheel of a Ford Focus
The 34-year-old, who will be contesting his seventh consecutive season in the BTCC with the Wrotham-based team, will join 2013 champion Andrew Jordan in the two-litre turbocharged machines.
Jackson finished 12th in the points for Motorbase last season in a partial campaign, but was a race winner on four occasions and took the team's first ever BTCC pole position in its 10-year history at Rockingham.
Both Jackson and Jordan are testing their 2016 machines at Brands Hatch today, Thursday.
"Hopefully the number seven will prove to be our lucky number this year with Mat racing back under his number seven and Andrew as 77," Motorbase team principal David Bartrum said.
"We've known Mat for a long time and enjoyed one of our best periods together at the end of last season, so the aim now is to carry that momentum on into this year and to focus on challenging at the front as soon as the first flag drops.
"There's work to be done, particularly around the new suspension, but I can honestly say that if I was asked to pair two drivers together then Mat and Andrew would be my first choice all day long.
"They both tested with us at the end of last year and worked well together; there's a great dynamic between them so I'm looking forward to seeing how they will bounce off of each other's experience as time goes on."
Bartrum also said that he had dropped plans to run three cars in the championship this season, after giving up on his hopes of securing a third TOCA BTCC Licence, the permit required to take up a place on the grid.
2016 BTCC LINE-UP SO FAR
Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R: Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal, Andy Neate
Team BMR Subaru Levorg: Jason Plato, Colin Turkington, Warren Scott, TBA
WSR BMW 125i M Sport: Sam Tordoff, Rob Collard, Jack Goff
Ciceley Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class: Adam Morgan
Motorbase Performance Ford Focus: Andrew Jordan, Mat Jackson
Speedworks Toyota Avensis: Tom Ingram
Speedworks Motorsport Honda Civic Type R: Matt Simpson
Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type-R: Jeff Smith, Martin Depper, TBA
Laser Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class: Aiden Moffat
Team Parker Racing Ford Focus: Alex Martin
Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis: Rob Austin, TBA
Team Hard Toyota Avensis: Chris Smiley
Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus: Stewart Lines
Yet to announce drivers: Triple Eight Racing (2 x MG6), AmD Tuning (Audi S3 saloon), Power Maxed Racing (2 x Chevrolet Cruze), Support Our Paras Racing (Infiniti Q50), Welch Motorsport (Proton Gen-2)
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