Mat Jackson endured a difficult weekend at
Donington Park during the latest rounds of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship after losing vital ground on Fabrizio Giovanardi in the title race.
The
BMW Dealer Team UK driver went into the weekend lying second to the Italian in the standings but could add only three points to his tally to slip down to sixth in the standings – some 32 points away from the points leader.
The weekend started in difficult fashion for Jackson as the BMW drivers struggled for grip around the Donington circuit and he qualified down in 14th place on the grid.
However, a storming drive in the opening race came to nothing when contact with the Team Halfords Honda Civic of Tom Chilton at the Craner Curves saw both drivers end up in the gravel at the Old Hairpin.
Having gambled on wet tyres for the second race following a shower, Jackson was only able to manage eleventh place as the circuit dried out and was then left to finish eighth in race three – not only slipping back in the overall standings but also losing the Independents' championship lead.
"It's been trying times," he told
Crash.net. "Conditions haven't suited us and we had a problem in qualifying which set us back and left us on the back foot. We had a coming together with Tom in race one when we were up for a storming result from 14th to fifth which is more than we had expected, so to end in the gravel trap wasn't a good sign.
"Tom drove into our rear wheel. We were facing the right way and he made contact with us. It's one of those things and it's very frustrating as it was out of our hands. We were easily on the inside and he wasn't even alongside, his front wheel was near my rear bumper. He was trying to hold on round the outside and all weekend, the Honda looked sketchy round the corners. Maybe it was a little bit out of control and he lost control, and we were in the wrong place.
