Jackson wins race one at Silverstone
Mat Jackson claimed his third British Touring Car Championship victory of the year in Race 1 at Silverstone, leading home an unprecedented 1-2-3 for the RML-run Chevrolets
Despite being beaten to the first corner by the Motorbase BMW of fellow front-row starter Rob Collard, Jackson spent only three laps behind his rival, putting a sensational move on Collard at Brooklands to grab a lead he would never lose.
Collard began to back up the chasing back, his rear-wheel drive BMW seemingly unable to stick to the racing line as well as the front-wheel drive Chevrolets.
Jason Plato made it by at Woodcote on lap 13, with James Nash in the third RML car following him through at the next corner. Nash claimed his first BTCC podium and also set the race's fastest lap in the process.
Colin Turkington also made it by Collard to finish fourth after a solid race, the WSR BMW driver increasing his championship lead from nine points to 11 over Fabrizio Giovanardi.
Giovanardi, though, was one of the stars of the race, climbing from eighth on the grid to fifth by the chequered flag, and lapping within three tenths of a second of the ultimate pace, while his Vauxhall team-mates were half a second slower.
Former grand prix winner Johnny Herbert finished 13th on his BTCC debut in his Team Dynamics Honda, having had a terrific battle with Andrew Jordan's Vauxhall during the second half of the race.
The race suffered two safety car periods, the first to remove the crashed cars of Tom Onslow-Cole (Arena Ford) and Anthony Reid (WSR BMW) from the gravel at Brooklands; and the second to clean up oil dropped by Martin Johnson's retired Boulevard Vauxhall.
Classified: Pos Driver Make Time 1. Mat Jackson Chevrolet 29:26.257 2. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 1.246 3. James Nash Chevrolet + 1.497 4. Colin Turkington BMW + 2.220 5. F.Giovanardi Vauxhall + 3.067 6. Rob Collard BMW + 5.170 7. Stephen Jelley BMW + 5.286 8. Jonathan Adam BMW + 6.347 9. Paul O'Neill Honda + 6.696 10. Matt Neal Vauxhall + 7.310 11. Tom Chilton Ford + 7.436 12. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 11.135 13. Johnny Herbert Honda + 11.253 14. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet + 16.515 15. Martyn Bell Honda + 18.403 16. John George Honda + 20.126 Not classified: Driver Make Laps David Pinkney Honda 22 Martin Johnson Vauxhall 15 Anthony Reid BMW 3 Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 3 Fastest lap: Nash, 1:00.941 on lap 10
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