Silverstone BTCC: Jackson storms to remarkable win in Race 2
Mat Jackson took a remarkable victory in the second British Touring Car race at Silverstone to give the NGTC Ford Focus its first success
After suffering a throttle problem while leading race one, Jackson had to start the second encounter from row nine.
While the Motorbase driver made his way though the field, race one winner Jason Plato led in his Triple Eight-run works MG6.
Plato had pulled three seconds clear of Rob Collard's fast-starting WSR BMW when title rival Matt Neal's Honda caught fire around half-distance and brought out the safety car.
By then, Jackson had made it up to fifth and he quickly demoted team-mate Aron Smith (S2000 Focus) at the restart.
The NGTC Focus then dived by Dave Newsham's ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra for third at Brooklands with seven laps to go.
Jackson was just lining up Collard for second when an electrical problem struck Plato. Collard swept by the MG, but was almost immediately overtaken by Jackson, who then pulled away to take his third win of 2012.
Collard, Newsham and Smith were next, with Rob Austin's Audi A4 completing the top five.
There was a huge battle behind. After chasing his WSR team-mate Nick Foster for several laps, Tom Onslow-Cole found a way by at Becketts on the penultimate tour to finish sixth.
Gordon Shedden's works Honda also got a run on the struggling BMW out of Copse on the final lap, and Foster was further demoted by Dan Welch - who had impressively charged up from row 10 in his Proton - and Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic.
With Neal and Plato both retiring, Shedden's seventh means he has now extended his championship lead to 21 points with just the Silverstone reversed-grid race and Brands Hatch meeting still to go.
Results - 25 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 26m14.885s
2. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 1.796s
3. Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall + 4.116s
4. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford + 4.581s
5. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 5.276s
6. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW + 9.361s
7. Gordon Shedden Honda + 10.452s
8. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 10.718s
9. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 11.353s
10. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 11.496s
11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 11.777s
12. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 12.431s
13. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 18.504s
14. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota + 18.822s
15. Chris James ES Vauxhall + 21.642s
16. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall + 26.681s
17. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota + 29.190s
18. Andy Neate MG + 1 lap
Retirements:
Tony Gilham Thorney Vauxhall 23 laps
Jason Plato MG 19 laps
Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen 17 laps
Matt Neal Honda 11 laps
Will Bratt Austin Audi 8 laps
Howard Fuller Gilham Honda 7 laps
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