Mat Jackson heads to Croft

Thu 11th June 2009 Warwickshire racing driver Mat Jackson has warned his rivals to be on guard as the HiQ British Touring Car Championship heads north to Croft circuit, near Darlington, this weekend.

Mat, who races an RML-run Chevrolet Lacetti for the Racing Silverline team, is out to avenge the bad luck which hampered his last meeting. A fortnight ago at Cheshire’s Oulton Park, the 28-year-old from Henley-In-Arden qualified on the front row and set the fastest lap of the weekend – only to suffer a series of technical dramas that meant he garnered just four points.

“It was a pretty frustrating weekend, but that’s racing,” says Mat, who turned 28 this week. “You have to learn to take the rough with the smooth... which means I’m hoping Croft will be as smooth as a baby’s bum. The one thing I can be sure of is that I’ve got the pace in the Lacetti – and I think it’s going to go like stink around Croft. I’ve just celebrated my birthday and it gives you extra motivation when you realise you aren’t getting any younger!”

Mat remains one of the youngest front-runners in the BTCC and, despite being more than ten years younger than former champions Matt Neal and Jason Plato, beat the pair into second overall in last year’s series. He heads to north east circuit Croft with added confidence, as it is where he scored his first-ever saloon car victory, in the Renault Clio series back in 2000. Mat will once again be targeting a qualifying performance that puts him at the head of the field, from where he’ll be taking on his rivals – and showing no mercy.

“We’ve now reached the halfway point of the season and, having missed the opening round, I’m more determined than ever to show what I can do with this car. One victory [in round two at Thruxton] is not enough: I want more, and I’ll be doing my hardest to get one this weekend. The team will have ironed out the problems I’ve had with the car and we can go and achieve some good results. Croft is quite a complex circuit but I can’t wait to get out there.”