BTCC: Mat Jackson quickest at Snetterton tyre test

A total of 25 BTCC drivers took part in the Dunlop tyre test today at the Snetterton circuit. The fastest of them was Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson, who was returning to the British Touring Car Championship.

As we earlier published, Motorbase Performance will return to the competition in the next BTCC round with two all-new Ford Focuses for Mat Jackson and James Cole. With the best lap time at Snetterton (1.57.216) Mat Jackson showed his intentions of bagging one of the major roles in the remaining BTCC races. Jackson completed 66 laps across the day in his Focus ST and his best lap was 0.530s faster than his best qualifying time from the Snetterton meeting last season.

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Jackson’s best time was set on his penultimate lap of the day, moving  Team BMR’s Colin Turkington to the 2nd place. Turkington’s Volkswagen CC was the fastest in the morning test session with lap time 1.57.368. MG Triple Eight Racing’s Andrew Jordan finished third ahead of Turkington’s team-mate Jason Plato, while West Surrey Racing’s Andy Priaulx in BMW rounded out the top five.

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In the Top 10, there were Aron Smith (Team BMR), Tom Ingram (Speedworks Motorsport), Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa), Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa) and Sam Tordoff (West Surrey Racing). Jackson’s team-mate James Cole was 17th in #44 Focus.

One more returning driver to the completion, Robb Holland was 22nd with Handy Motorsport’s Toyota Avensis. Nicolas Hamilton in AmD Tuning’s Audi S3 proved his progress and finished 19th.

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