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Mat Jackson believes Knockhill BTCC round will be a Chevrolet benefit

Mat Jackson believes that this weekend's British Touring Car Championship round at Knockhill will play to the strengths of the rival Chevrolet squad

Jackson took the championship lead for the first time this season following his race three win at Snetterton last time out and has tasted success on four occasions in 2011.

However, the Motorbase Performance driver carrying 45kg of success ballast and the turbocharged cars have had their engines pegged back on a number of occasions against the normally-aspirated cars, such as the Chevys and the WSR BMWs this season.

He believes, therefore, that for qualifying and the first race - after which the ballast levels will be adjusted according to results - that the turbo cars will be at a huge disadvantage to the machines of Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall.

"Leading the championship heading into the final leg of the championship is great and is testament to how well the car and team are working," Jackson said.

"The only down side is that we have to carry the 45kg of success ballast that is attached to the championship lead which, when you look at the base weights of the cars, we are some 70kg heavier than the Cruze of Plato. That's a huge difference especially around a circuit like Knockhill."

Motorbase team manager Oly Collins shares Jackson's doubts about the ability of the turbo cars, such as the Motorbase and Arena Fords, the works Hondas and the Eurotech and Triple 8 Vauxhalls, to challenge Chevys.

He pointed to the season-opening round at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit - at which Plato took a double win - as an example of how he expects the form to pan out.

"It'll be interesting to see how the parity debate plays out this weekend," Collins added.

"Personally I think Knockhill has a similar characteristic to Brands Indy. With all the turbos on full song at the start of the season, the Chevy dominated at Brands.

"Since then all turbo cars have been reduced in power and the Chevy has been lightened by 25kg so I would expect a Chevy 1-2 by some margin in qualifying.

"I think TOCA had it closest at Croft earlier in the year, but we'll see. There's nothing we can do about it; TOCA have an independent group of experts working on getting it right so we have to put our trust in them, whoever they are."

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