Mat Jackson beats Gordon Shedden to win first BTCC race at Donington Park
Mat Jackson won a hard fought first British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Donington Park
The Motorbase Ford driver jumped from sixth on the grid to third on the run to the first corner. He then pressured polesitter Jason Plato for the first two laps before the pace of the works MG6 improved and Plato closed on race leader Rob Collard.
Collard's rear-wheel-drive WSR BMW had made a great start from fifth to lead by 1.6 seconds at the end of the first lap, but lacked race pace.
The crucial moment came on lap five of 16. Plato got down the inside of Collard on the run out of Coppice. As they reached the Goddards chicane at the end of the lap, Jackson tried to follow Plato through, but braked too late and nudged the back of the MG.
Plato had to go across the chicane, falling from first to fourth, while Collard was dumped to sixth, the order ahead of him becoming Jackson-Gordon Shedden-Matt Neal-Plato-Tom Onslow-Cole.
Jackson and the Honda of Shedden then edged away from the ballast-laden cars of Neal (Honda) and Plato, who engaged in their own personal duel for third.
Shedden put Jackson under pressure during the closing laps, but the Motorbase man held on to take his first win of the season by 0.229s.
A minor Neal error at the chicane going onto the last lap allowed Plato to attack and he briefly got alongside at the Craner Curves. But Neal held his nerve to secure third.
Onslow-Cole was fifth, his WSR BMW holding off a charging Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda by a mere 0.112s. Jordan had ended an awful first lap ninth, having started fourth, but he showed strong race pace as he recovered.
Dave Newsham took seventh in his ES Vauxhall after a brief dice with the flying Jordan and struggling Collard.
The inexperienced Aron Smith continued his fine form with a strong eighth for Motorbase, while Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota) overcame Collard for ninth with a couple of laps to go.
Results - 16 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 19m11.104s 2. Gordon Shedden Honda + 0.229s 3. Matt Neal Honda + 5.600s 4. Jason Plato MG + 5.832s 5. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW + 8.656s 6. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 8.768s 7. Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall + 11.750s 8. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford + 14.484s 9. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 20.384s 10. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 24.109s 11. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 36.021s 12. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 40.216s 13. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 45.844s 14. Tony Gilham Gilham Honda + 46.081s 15. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota + 46.780s 16. Andy Neate MG + 58.982s 17. Chris James ES Vauxhall + 1m11.552s Retirements: Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen 11 laps Rob Austin Austin Audi 6 laps Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 2 laps Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1 lap Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 1 lap
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