Silverstone BTCC: Mat Jackson dominates practice in Motorbase Ford
Mat Jackson dominated practice for the British Touring Car Championship round at Silverstone in his Motorbase Ford Focus
The Rockingham race winner topped both sessions on Saturday, as the new EcoBoost-powered Focus starred on the short national circuit layout.
Jackson's best time of the day so far came in practice two, in which he posted a 58.557s lap and then aborted an even quicker lap.
His effort was still good enough for top spot, edging out MG's Jack Goff by just 0.053s.
Colin Turkington was the leading Team BMR Volkswagen CC in third, just ahead of the BTCC's newest podium finishers Josh Cook and Tom Ingram - with all three drivers within a couple of tenths of Jackson's benchmarks.
Jackson had edged Cook's Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze by just 0.067s in the opening session, in which Goff also looked strong in the Triple Eight-run MG having gone fourth.
Maximum ballast does not look to have hindered championship leader Gordon Shedden's Honda too badly, with the Scot sixth in the opening session and seventh later on.
His nearest rival, Team BMR's Jason Plato, was outside the top 10 and more than three tenths off the pace complaining about the balance on both occasions as he went 16th and 11th.
Plato's team boss Warren Scott posted his most competitive showing with the third-best time in first practice, but crashed heavily at Copse at the end of the session and missed the second after going to hospital for checks.
PRACTICE ONE TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 58.952s | - | 18 |
| 2 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 59.019s | 0.067s | 23 |
| 3 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 59.024s | 0.072s | 22 |
| 4 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 59.058s | 0.106s | 24 |
| 5 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 59.072s | 0.120s | 28 |
| 6 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 59.084s | 0.132s | 21 |
| 7 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 59.128s | 0.176s | 22 |
| 8 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 59.142s | 0.190s | 22 |
| 9 | Andy Priaulx | WSR | BMW | 59.185s | 0.233s | 18 |
| 10 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 59.188s | 0.236s | 25 |
| 11 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 59.372s | 0.420s | 24 |
| 12 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 59.389s | 0.437s | 21 |
| 13 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 59.452s | 0.500s | 25 |
| 14 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 59.467s | 0.515s | 18 |
| 15 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 59.472s | 0.520s | 16 |
| 16 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 59.480s | 0.528s | 22 |
| 17 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 59.532s | 0.580s | 23 |
| 18 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 59.540s | 0.588s | 21 |
| 19 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 59.760s | 0.808s | 22 |
| 20 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 59.767s | 0.815s | 22 |
| 21 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 59.967s | 1.015s | 21 |
| 22 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 59.988s | 1.036s | 17 |
| 23 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 1m00.034s | 1.082s | 22 |
| 24 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 1m00.130s | 1.178s | 18 |
| 25 | Tony Gilham | Team Hard | Toyota | 1m00.404s | 1.452s | 19 |
| 26 | Simon Belcher | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 1m00.499s | 1.547s | 26 |
| 27 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 1m00.568s | 1.616s | 22 |
| 28 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 1m00.742s | 1.790s | 21 |
| 29 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 1m00.863s | 1.911s | 20 |
| 30 | Nicolas Hamilton | AmD | Audi | 1m05.446s | 6.494s | 8 |
PRACTICE TWO TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 58.557s | - | 26 |
| 2 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 58.610s | 0.053s | 26 |
| 3 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 58.677s | 0.120s | 24 |
| 4 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 58.704s | 0.147s | 26 |
| 5 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 58.755s | 0.198s | 24 |
| 6 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 58.782s | 0.225s | 28 |
| 7 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 58.786s | 0.229s | 29 |
| 8 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 58.812s | 0.255s | 22 |
| 9 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 58.870s | 0.313s | 22 |
| 10 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 58.875s | 0.318s | 28 |
| 11 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 58.897s | 0.340s | 26 |
| 12 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 58.920s | 0.363s | 26 |
| 13 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 58.940s | 0.383s | 26 |
| 14 | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 58.971s | 0.414s | 30 |
| 15 | Andy Priaulx | WSR | BMW | 58.988s | 0.431s | 26 |
| 16 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 59.047s | 0.490s | 29 |
| 17 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 59.080s | 0.523s | 27 |
| 18 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 59.087s | 0.530s | 21 |
| 19 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 59.153s | 0.596s | 27 |
| 20 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 59.172s | 0.615s | 25 |
| 21 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 59.176s | 0.619s | 30 |
| 22 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 59.348s | 0.791s | 28 |
| 23 | Tony Gilham | Team Hard | Toyota | 59.431s | 0.874s | 20 |
| 24 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 1m00.021s | 1.464s | 25 |
| 25 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 1m00.146s | 1.589s | 29 |
| 26 | Simon Belcher | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 1m00.190s | 1.633s | 29 |
| 27 | Nicolas Hamilton | AmD | Audi | 1m00.315s | 1.758s | 30 |
| 28 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 1m00.510s | 1.953s | 30 |
| 29 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 1m00.688s | 2.131s | 8 |
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