Motorbase Performance's Mat Jackson secured victory in a thrilling, truncated race two at Snetterton, with Colin Turkington and Matt Neal completing the podium positions.
Jackson did the double on Turkington, getting the leap on the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing man on the opening lap – both in the first instance and again on the restart after a red flag had halted proceedings.
The Focus fired off the line beyond second-placed Gordon Shedden and then past pole man Turkington, before a multi-car collision sparked chaos down the order. Aron Smith and Kelvin Fletcher had a coming together on the exit of turn one, but the main drama came later in the lap when Dan Welch and Ollie Jackson tangled as they ran on to the Bentley Straight. With dust filling the air an unsighted Alex Martin, Hunter Abbott and Ashley Sutton were all caught up in the accident. With stationary cars now littering the track, and several with heavy damage, race officials were left with no choice but to stop the race.
Take two and Jackson produced an almost carbon copy of his earlier effort – leaving Shedden off the line but waiting until Hamilton corner before disposing of Turkington. Jackson remained untroubled for the remainder of the shortened ten lap race, with Turkington following up his race one win with another solid rostrum in the second bout.
"It was good," said Jackson. "To do it for a second time after the restat makes it even better – the car was on fire. I have to say it’s been absolutely awesome. Colin knew my tricks second time but it’s terrific to take the win with all the ballast on. It’s great for us and all of our sponsors. We were on the softs so we were mindful of being there at the end, managing it to a point. It was just about keeping an eye on where colin was and keeping him at bay."
"It was very hard for me to defend against that," responded Colin. "I did my best both times but I sort of knew it was coming and it did. It was super anyway, we made a genuine step forward with the chassis there. That’s why I could live with Mat winning."
The fight for the final podium place was undecided until the final moments, with the battle initially raging following contact between Turkington and Shedden on lap two. Shedden's Honda was then tagged twice by WIX Racing's Adam Morgan, sending the reigning champion tumbling down the order.
Morgan couldn't keep Neal's Civic Type R behind him for long, and the Mercedes succumbed to the flying WSR BMW of Rob Collard, who had stormed from 16th to 4th in the early stages.
A duel between Neal and Collard followed, providing the best racing of the contest as the ran side-by-side for much of lap eight. Team JCT600 with GardX driver Collard looked to have made the move stick, but triple champion Neal immediately fought back to retake the position. The striking Halfords-backed Honda held on to reach the rostrum, but both drivers strengthened their respective championship challenges with stellar points finishes.
Morgan had to settle for fifth, ahead of Jason Plato, Tom Ingram and Sam Tordoff – the latter also benefitting from a reverse grid draw that places him on pole position for today's final race.
Handy Motorsport's Rob Austin claimed ninth, with the recovering Shedden completing the top ten order.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 17 – Snetterton:
1 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance 19m48.288s
2 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.190s
3 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.950s
4 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +2.140s
5 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +7.255s
6 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +7.687s
7 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +8.421s
8 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +9.935s
9 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +11.649s
10 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +11.989s
11 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +13.238s
12 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +16.369s
13 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +16.506s
14 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +16.735s
15 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +18.082s
16 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +18.306s
17 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +18.606s
18 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +27.324s
19 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +27.760s
20 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +36.363s
21 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +42.175s
22 Michael CAINE (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +2 laps
23 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +3 laps
24 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +4 laps
25 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing
26 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing
27 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club
28 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com
29 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing
30 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing
31 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance
