Aside from the title race drama that has unfolded in recent rounds there has been one man enjoying a truly breakthrough period in his BTCC career, and that’s Motorbase Performance’s Ollie Jackson.
The Ford Focus ST driver became the BTCC’s newest race winner when he took a hugely popular victory at Silverstone in September, and he backed that up with another fantastic triumph at Snetterton last time out.
“It feels as though wins are like busses: two come along at once,” said Jackson afterwards. “It’s brilliant and I’ve soaked it in a bit more this time. It’s absolutely fantastic to have another great result.”
Jackson withstood huge pressure in the final race of the day in Norfolk to bank his second victory of the season, as he now closes in on a best-ever points with only three races of the 2020 campaign remaining.
His performance was all the more impressive after he was the innocent victim of a race one shunt, which meant he started the second race of the afternoon on the 11th row of the grid.
One of the drives of the season followed as he climbed up to an impressive eighth place, putting him on the front row for the reversed grid final encounter.
He grabbed the lead with a stunning move on the opening lap of race three, and despite coming under attack throughout, he charged on to claim the champagne with a second career win in the UK’s toughest motorsport series.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen after getting knocked back on the opening lap of race one and I pretty much started from the back in race two,” he said. “I’m really grateful for the team, and the car, that we had the pace to pull the weekend around.
“The goal before race three was to get a good start and lead by the end of the first lap. I got the good start and I made my way past [pole-sitter] Chris Smiley. It looked like Adam Morgan [who was chasing] was struggling in the Mercedes with the back end, and I took advantage of that and sneaked through and held it.”
Team principal David Bartrum paid tribute to Jackson’s comeback in race two, which he said set-up the victorious run in the finale.
“Ollie has driven brilliantly,” he said. “He had the bad luck in race one, so he had to come through the pack. To get up to eighth position in race two set the scene for the win. That drive in race two was arguably a better drive that what he produced to win two races.
“To get back to eighth to be in the draw and then to go from third off the line to first and win the race – he has not been gifted that, he’s won it from the way he has built his weekend. I’m over the moon for Ollie. I think this was one of his most complete weekends as he has qualified well and raced well.”
Jackson has never finished higher than 18th in the overall standings, a statistic he is set to smash when the final rounds of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship take place at Motorbase Performance’s home circuit of Brands Hatch on November 14-15.
