Saving the best until last
Rising star James Nash will take a 17 point lead over title rival Mat Jackson in the Independent Driver’s standings into the final round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Silverstone, near Towcester, Northamptonshire in two weeks time. Nash and Jackson are now the only drivers who can take the crown while Nash is also still involved in a 5-way battle for the overall driver’s title.
Nash took an overall 3rd place podium result and Independent award win in the third of three races held at Brands Hatch, near Swanley in Kent to add to his fourth and sixth place finishes in the days earlier races. Nash’s Independents win incidentally was his 3rd motor racing victory in as many weeks, having won at Rockingham two weeks ago and at Donington Park last weekend on his GT sportscar debut.
Ollie Jackson in the team’s second turbo Vauxhall took two 18th places and an 11th place finish in the days races, just missing the Championship point that would have been the icing on the cake after a very creditable performance on his touring car debut.
Triple Eight Race Engineering with Collins Contractors still lead the way in the Independent Team’s award and share 3rd place in the overall Team’s Championship with Mat Jackson’s Airwaves Racing outfit.
James Nash: “The race three result was good for the whole team. We’d struggled until then for most of the day actually so it was nice way to end the day. Silverstone promises to be exciting and while it’s obviously good to be leading the independents in all honesty whatever the points lead is it can never be enough really.”
Ollie Jackson: “We had good pace yesterday in practice so I know that the potential is there to be higher up the grid. Unfortunately, the opening laps hurt me and each race was a fight-back but we brought the car home each time in one piece, which is good.
“The whole weekend has been a great experience. Racing in the BTCC is everything I thought it was going to be. It’s a real challenge and I’m already really looking forward to the next race at Silverstone.”
Ian Harrison, Chairman Triple Eight: “It’s been a tough day for us. There were a couple of strange results in races one and two but James got a decent result in race 3. We’ve got to keep scoring points to maintain the Championship leads.”
“Ollie had a bit of a baptism and Brands Hatch isn’t the easiest of circuits on which to make your touring car debut. He did well and improved through the day. He’s got to work though on those first 5 laps but we will help him with that. I’m sure his head is spinning at the moment. He’s learnt a lot today and together we’ll get him further up the track at Silverstone.”
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