Racing Silverline's Mat Jackson secures Silverstone BTCC pole

Sun 30th August 2009 After dominating the top of the timesheets with team mate, Jason Plato, for most of today’s free practice sessions, Mat took an early lead in qualifying and remained unthreatened to the end, taking his first outright pole position for the Racing Silverline squad ahead of tomorrow’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car round.

Commenting on his pole position, Mat said, “It’s great, Racing Silverline & RML have put out a fantastic car and so far so good. It’s still early days, this is qualifying which is obviously only one part of it. We’ve still got three races and there’s a lot to play for. The car is consistent and fast over race distance and the guys have worked hard. But we’re not going to compete with the BMWs off the line. But, we do have the race pace over them so it’s a case of making a clean start and getting away. There are three Chevrolets in the top four, so this could be a good weekend for the team.”

And on his strategy for tomorrow, Mat says confidently, “To win. That’s what we have to aim for, starting at the front. We just need to win. Simple.”

Team mate, Jason will start the first race tomorrow from 4th on the grid, behind RML’s James Nash. Summarising his qualifying session, Jason said, “Mat’s done a great job, I mean that’s a fantastic lap. It’s a little frustrating for me, we got the set up right in FP2, but we’ve not quite got the car where I want it. Mat is an extra 30kgs lighter. That said, no excuses, we weren’t quick enough in qualifying to get pole. We have three Lacettis in the top four, which proves the pace of the Lacetti.”

Thinking ahead to race strategy, Jason added, “We’re surrounded by BMWs so may lose a place or two at the start, but that’s perhaps the same for Mat. I think we have pace in the race. Colin has a very realistic chance of getting past me at the start, but then he has a championship to be play for and I’d be surprised if he puts up to much resistance.”