Jackson wins Silverstone thriller

Airwaves Racing's Mat Jackson has dominated a thoroughly entertaining final BTCC race of the day at Silverstone as a dramatic battle for the podium ensued behind.

Drama hit proceedings even before the cars set off on their green flag lap with Sam Tordoff's spectacular engine failure littering a substantial load of oil onto his grid slot.

As the marshals quickly wheeled his stricken MG machine away, they then had clear the huge puddle of oil which the Triple Eight car left before the race could get underway.

Jackson reacted best to the situation and immediately leapt into second position from fourth despite starting behind the huge oil slick.

The Airwaves driver then latched straight onto the rear of his Motorbase team mate and while Robb Holland and James Cole collided behind, Jackson pressured Giovanardi into a mistake at Luffield and passed the Italian before the cars were summoned under safety car formation.

Giovanardi initially kept the lead while under the safety car but handed the position back to Jackson on the restart.

The former-double champion lost a further position to BMR's Aron Smith which then left the Focus ST driver with a massive battle on his hands to hold the final step on the rostrum.

As Jackson and Smith galloped away at the front, for 18 laps Giovanardi soaked up a colossal amount of pressure from championship Colin Turkington, who looked desperate to get past the Ford.

Turkington, in turn, had Volkswagens Alain Menu and MG's Jason Plato breathing down his neck but on lap 18 the WSR man looked to have finally made his move for the podium into Brooklands. But Giovanardi refused to stand down and muscled his way back on the inside coming out of Luffield.

What ensued after was a lap of pure brilliance as no less than four former BTCC-champions spent most of the minute long side-by-side in an enthralling multi-car exchange.

Menu initially had looked to have the upper hand on the inside at Copse, but Turkington's momentum allowed the BMW to pull alongside into the hairpin. However, Plato nudged into the rear of Turkington and sent Giovanardi into a spin and down to 11th.

By race end the podium consisted of Jackson, Smith and amazingly Turkington after producing a champion's drive.

Plato, Menu and Andrew Jordan completed the top six while Mercedes' Adam Morgan managed to finish his day off with a seventh. Gordon Shedden, Warren Scott and Jack Goff completed the top ten.