Rockingham BTCC: Mat Jackson wins for Motorbase Ford with puncture
Mat Jackson claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Rockingham, while Jason Plato was punted out of the points lead
Motorbase driver Jackson led away from pole position and his Ford Focus was never headed as he first pulled clear of fellow front-row starter Aron Smith, and later Gordon Shedden.
As Jackson headed Smith into Deene for the first time, the slow-starting Tom Ingram was swamped from fourth and dropped behind the two Hondas of Shedden and Matt Neal, and Plato.
Ingram rebuffed an attack from Josh Cook but the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze tried to dive by again into Yentwood and hit the Speedworks Toyota Avensis.
That sent a sideways Ingram into Plato, whose Team BMR Volkswagen CC suffered what looked like a broken toe-link and crabbed back to the pits.
The erstwhile points leader rejoined the action three laps down in a repaired VW that was quick enough to bag 12th on the grid for race two.
At the front, Jackson eased clear as Smith came under attack from Jack Goff, but Shedden was into third by the third lap and soon after had dispatched Smith as well.
He briefly cut into the two-second gap to the leader but made no further progress, and Jackson extended his advantage by the race's end for a 22nd BTCC victory.
It was not a clear run to the flag, though - Jackson reported "burning rubber" two laps from the end as he suffered a front-right puncture, though it did not go completely flat until after the flag.
Shedden, who set the fastest lap of the race to take pole for the second encounter, was a lonely second to move to the summit of the championship standings, while Smith kept Goff at bay to complete the podium.
Neal had looked set to round out the top five but suffered his own late puncture, which dropped the three-time champion from fifth to eighth on the last lap.
That allowed the recovering Ingram to take fifth after managing his soft tyres well, while Andrew Jordan rose from ninth to sixth in his MG.
A muted Colin Turkington, Neal, Adam Morgan and Sam Tordoff completed the top 10.
RESULTS - 16 LAPS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 22m32.922s |
| 2 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 1.832s |
| 3 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 3.686s |
| 4 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 4.317s |
| 5 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 14.622s |
| 6 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 17.285s |
| 7 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 18.422s |
| 8 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 21.431s |
| 9 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 23.231s |
| 10 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 23.438s |
| 11 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 28.091s |
| 12 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 28.332s |
| 13 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 29.309s |
| 14 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 30.216s |
| 15 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 34.259s |
| 16 | Nick Foster | WSR | BMW | 34.945s |
| 17 | Robb Holland | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 36.118s |
| 18 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 38.801s |
| 19 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 47.201s |
| 20 | Nicolas Hamilton | AmD | Audi | 51.588s |
| 21 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 56.325s |
| 22 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 57.785s |
| 23 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 1m01.370s |
| 24 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 1m02.910s |
| 25 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 1m13.642s |
| 26 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 1m13.798s |
| 27 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 2 Laps |
| - | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | Retirement |
| - | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | Retirement |
| - | Kieran Gallagher | Team Hard | Toyota | Retirement |
RACE TWO STARTING GRID:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 1m23.193s | - |
| 2 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 1m23.233s | 0.040s |
| 3 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 1m23.238s | 0.045s |
| 4 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 1m23.415s | 0.222s |
| 5 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 1m23.470s | 0.277s |
| 6 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 1m23.508s | 0.315s |
| 7 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 1m23.518s | 0.325s |
| 8 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 1m23.632s | 0.439s |
| 9 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 1m23.653s | 0.460s |
| 10 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 1m23.658s | 0.465s |
| 11 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 1m23.754s | 0.561s |
| 12 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 1m23.794s | 0.601s |
| 13 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 1m23.822s | 0.629s |
| 14 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 1m23.824s | 0.631s |
| 15 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 1m23.846s | 0.653s |
| 16 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 1m23.867s | 0.674s |
| 17 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 1m24.022s | 0.829s |
| 18 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 1m24.290s | 1.097s |
| 19 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 1m24.502s | 1.309s |
| 20 | Nick Foster | WSR | BMW | 1m24.540s | 1.347s |
| 21 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 1m24.633s | 1.440s |
| 22 | Robb Holland | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 1m24.786s | 1.593s |
| 23 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 1m25.124s | 1.931s |
| 24 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 1m25.796s | 2.603s |
| 25 | Nicolas Hamilton | AmD | Audi | 1m25.828s | 2.635s |
| 26 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 1m25.856s | 2.663s |
| 27 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 1m25.871s | 2.678s |
| 28 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 1m23.876s | 0.683s |
| 29 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 1m24.037s | 0.844s |
| 30 | Kieran Gallagher | Team Hard | Toyota | 1m25.789s | 2.596s |
Set by fastest race one laps
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