Mat Jackson: Future BTCC champion?

"We have to make some sacrifices, and success in 2013 is exactly what we're working for."

That was Mat Jackson's verdict after giving the untested new-spec NGTC Ford Focus of Motorbase Performance its race debut at Snetterton last month.

Armed with the old Super 2000 Focus, he fought for the title in 2011 and has been a race winner this term, but Jackson and his team believed they needed a new car to take on multiple champions Jason Plato and Matt Neal.

The bigger tyres and brakes of the NGTC machines, not to mention the chance to develop a car from scratch, should give Motorbase the chance to battle works squads MG and Honda on a more equal footing. The rest of this season is, therefore, being used to get up to speed so that Jackson can hit the ground running in 2013.

"These race days are valuable," says team boss David Bartrum. "You never push as hard at a test as you do at a race.

The new Focus has made rapid progress © LAT

"The new car has given Mat a big lift. He's not used to being in a team with the people who built the car, and he's never had a new touring car. He knows he's got to step up."

Jackson agrees: "It's difficult when you're an independent up against the manufacturers, but this is the first time we've had the same kit as everyone else. NGTC gives us the platform and I think we can be as good as the works boys."

So, assuming the car is up to it, can Jackson do it?

In his favour, the 31-year-old has beaten the current contenders in a title race before. In 2008, his second British Touring Car Championship season, he finished behind only Fabrizio Giovanardi, and ahead of Plato and Neal.

On the downside, his qualifying efforts tend not to match his racing ability. Last year his average qualifying position was 7.8 and there were no genuine poles, yet he scored seven fastest laps, more than anyone else.

Jackson is a regular winner, but can he start beating Plato and Neal to titles? © LAT

"Mat doesn't always pull it out of the bag in qualifying," concedes Bartrum, who has run Jackson since 2010. "Sometimes it might be him not quite telling us exactly what he needs, sometimes it might be that we don't get there fast enough."

Jackson stops short of admitting he has a weakness in qualifying, but reckons it is something he and the team can work on. "Qualifying is key and together we can improve, particularly now we have the NGTC," says the 18-time BTCC race winner.

Qualifying higher will also help him avoid trouble. Last year, Jackson's racecraft was usually very good, but he also had moments - most notably at Knockhill - when he got himself into scrapes and lost valuable points.

"Hitting Tom Chilton at Knockhill and damaging the engine was the first thing," adds Bartrum of Jackson's 2011 troubles. "He chased too hard from that point and that carried on at Rockingham.

"At Silverstone when we still had a slim chance, he took too much kerb and got a puncture, but if those last rounds had gone a bit differently he could have been champion.

"He's starting to mature now. At Thruxton this year, Gordon Shedden and Plato were catching [in race two] and he didn't fight them; there was no point. In the past, he's taken a few cars on and lost out completely."

SEAT Cupras were part of Jackson's tin-top education © LAT

"You've got to learn when to give it up and when not to," adds Jackson. "You never stop learning."

Jackson started his tin-top education with Stancombe Engineering in Ford Fiestas and the Renault Clio Cup.

After giving the team its first win in Clios he stepped into the Production class in the BTCC, then - with his father managing the team and his brother engineering him - became a SEAT Cupra Cup star.

Colin Stancombe was impressed with Jackson in the early days and believes he has got better. "He was very intense and that sometimes overflowed into emotion when things didn't well, but he's grown," says Stancombe.

"His feedback wasn't particularly good at the time - as you'd expect straight out of karting. But at Snetterton the NGTC Focus went from nowhere to somewhere in three races. A lot of that has to be due to his feedback.

"He most definitely can be champion - he's got probably the most intense will to win. He'd be a worthy champion too, he's worked so hard."

After dominating the 2006 SEAT Cupra title, despite not always qualifying very well (sound familiar?), he was an instant race winner in his BTCC return in his family-run BMW.

Jackson had a stint as an RML Chevrolet driver in 2009 © LAT

After his first title challenge in 2008, Jackson joined Plato in the RML Chevy squad. Despite missing the first meeting and suffering food poisoning at Croft, Jackson took four wins and fifth in the points.

That was three wins fewer and three places further down than Plato, but the experienced double champion also believes Jackson can win the BTCC.

"Mat is bloody quick, I know that from when we were team-mates," says Plato. "I had to dig deep, but generally we had it covered.

"But yes, if he gets it all working and gets a good run, I don't see why he can't win it."

Almost everyone agrees Jackson has the potential to be a BTCC champion. Now it's just the not-so-simple matter of him and Motorbase turning that potential into reality.