Jackson one to watch this weekend

Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson goes into this weekend’s opening round of the 2012 British Touring Car Championship as a favourite, having been in contention for the 2011 title up until the final round.

Jackson had been leading the 2011 Championship until a disastrous second half of the season saw him slip to fourth. The Championship contender claims to have learnt from the experience: “It was frustrating last year and there were a few mistakes on my part, but from the mistakes which happened I feel we have become stronger from it, so hopefully this year I can get in the lead and maintain it. All we can do is focus on our own game, we know it will be a tough year to stay ahead of the NGTC cars but hopefully we can do that from the word go.”

The Motorbase Performance Team are running the same S2000 Focus STs that they used in their Championship assault in 2011. Jackson is again joined by Liam Griffin with current Motorsport Ireland Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the Year Aron Smith also joining the Team in 2012. With limited (or no) testing by many of the NGTC teams and teething issues encountered by those who have been testing, many expect the S2000 cars to be strong in the opening rounds.

Jackson is optimistic about his chances:
“I’m genuinely very excited about the season ahead – the team behind the Redstone Focus, Motorbase Performance, know it inside out after a very strong season developing it in 2011 and we’ve moved it on a few more steps over the winter.”

“It’s vital we hit the ground running and make the most of a car we already know while others, like Honda and MG, who’ve built cars to the new NGTC regulations are still getting to grips with their cars. Brands Hatch is a circuit I’ve always done well at and it’s also the team’s home circuit so we need to go in all guns blazing and get off to a flying start. The atmosphere is going to be electric – it’s what it’s all about.”