Mat Jackson was a happy man after claiming his and Motorbase Performance‘s first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship win of the season, leading from lights-to-flag at Rockingham.
The Ford Focus ST held its advantage from pole position in the opening 16-lapper of the day, leading home Gordon Shedden and Aron Smith unchallenged after an early spurt left him in clear air.
“Pole is one thing, but a lot can happen in the race”, Jackson told The Checkered Flag after his race one win.
“We managed to get away and into clear air, pulling a gap on Aron [Smith] at the time before Shedden began to close in on us at the end.
“Luckily we had a good enough gap to be able to close out the race.”
The tyre and weight regulation changes of the 2015 season have at times made racing highly unpredictable beforehand, Jackson echoing the statement as he enters with 75kg success ballast for the first time in BTCC.
“Every single lap is heading into the unknown really. What we’re doing is learning about the tyres every time we go out there at each circuit.
“We’re in good shape and we’ll see how we do with more ballast on board.”
Jackson intends to add more success for the Motorbase team, for which he joined back in 2010, expecting to be still in contention in the remainder of the races at Rockingham for more silverware.
He added: “That’s the name of the game. We’re in the mix, we’re happy and so far, so good. We’ve never run with full 75kg ballast, so we’ll wait and see.”
