Jacko takes pole in BTCC opener

Mar 30 2008 by Zoe Burn, Sunday Sun

MAT JACKSON will line up in pole position for today’s first race of the 2008 British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

The BMW Dealer Team UK driver shocked rivals and fans alike by topping the timesheets in yesterday afternoon’s qualifying session, as changing weather conditions played havoc.

The hard-fought session, which saw the top spot change more than a dozen times, was cut short when the red flag was waved 1.13mins from the end of the half-hour dash, and race chiefs called it a result.

Jackson grabbed P1 from VX Racing’s Fabrizio Giovanardi on a drying track, with just over two minutes remaining, as the 25-strong field jostled for positions around the fast Indy circuit.

His time of 49.348secs in the BMW 320si was enough to see off charges from the rest, and a thrilled Jackson could hardly contain his excitement.

“That was great, but tough,” he said. “We had 25 cars on a 1.2mile circuit and only one dry line there towards the end. It certainly made things hectic.

“I could see the others were getting faster all the time and we had to go off-line to pick our way past a few slower cars. I guess I just found a bigger gap than everyone else.”

The 26-year-old rising star’s time kept reigning champ Giovanardi in second place, with Team RAC driver Colin Turkington – who had dominated both earlier practice sessions – in third.

Honorary Geordie Jason Plato, brought his new diesel-powered SEAT Leon TDi over the line fourth quickest.

With less than a second covering the top 14 cars, Jackson admitted he will have his work cut out for him this morning, when the first of the three races gets underway.

“This is a great start to our 2008 season and hopefully the BMW’s rear-wheel drive will give me the start I need tomorrow.

“The start will be important because getting ahead of the likes of Fabrizio, Colin or Jason for 24 laps is going to be very hard work.”

Top Ten times: 1. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 49.348s, 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.019s, 3. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, + 0.123s, 4. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.163s, 5. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.217s, 6. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.284s, 7. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.403s, 8. Steven Kane (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, + 0.419s, 9. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.564s, 10. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.610s.

NEWCASTLE’S Harry Vaulkhard endured a baptism of fire in his first ever touring car qualifying session.

Vaulkhard qualified 20th in his Robertshaw Racing Chevrolet Lancetti, as team-mate Matt Allison finished 12th.

Alan “Big Mussel” Taylor in the Robertshaw Civic Type-R was 23rd, while Hexham’s Stuart Oliver in the BTC Racing Lexus was 21st.

Last night Joe Bradley, team manager of the Boldon-based outfit, told Burning Rubber he was happy with his drivers, and praised their efforts in the conditions.

“By the end of that, the weather was absolutely terrible, it was changing, wet, dry, at one point we had slicks on the front and wets on the back. It was crazy.

“Matt did very well to get the 12th spot, and poor old Harry just had the worst possible conditions to start his career – he did very well, he is still just lacking the experience, so all of guys who have been racing touring cars for years had the edge on him out there.

“But it’ll come, he’s still new to BTCC and he’ll get there. The team are really happy, Alan is happy with how he did and we’re all just looking forward to tomorrow – although I don’t imagine any of us will get much sleep!”