Mat Jackson - 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship

Still only 28 years old, Mat Jackson has been racing since he was 12 years old and already has an impressive BTCC pedigree. Now, a prime seat in the Airwaves BMW team is giving the Warwickshire driver his best shot so far at the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

By any measure, Mat has an impressive pedigree and more than deserves his place as one of the big guns of the current BTCC. It all started in junior karting, with strong results over four seasons and he translated that pace into single-seaters when he made the switch to Formula 600 in 1999, with seven race wins.

But it was the touring car arena that really grabbed his attention and Mat moved across to Renault Clios in 2000, where he finished fourth overall. The following season he contested the BTCC Production class in the Ford Focus from the GR Asia team, but it would be another six years before he finally got the jump into the BTCC spotlight.

In 2005 and 2006 Mat was the pacesetter in the SEAT Cupra Championship, taking second overall with eight wins in 2005 and dominating the championship in 2006 with a record 11 wins. Clearly, he was ready for the BTCC.

The big step forward came in 2007, with the family-run Jacksons Motorsport outfit, which grew into BMW Dealer Team UK for 2008. The pace was impressive from the start, with two wins and seventh in the table in '07, followed by five wins and second overall to Giovanardi in 2008.

Then the recession hit, and Mat had to reassess his plans for 2009. He missed the opening weekend of the season before finding a slot at RML, racing a Chevrolet Lacetti as team-mate to Jason Plato. Despite the late start, he was fifth overall in the final championship standings with four wins and he became first driver to finish on the podium in all three races at two consecutive events; Knockhill and Silverstone.

But it was clear that Jackson's first choice was to return to a BMW. "I'd been talking to David Bartrum for some time about trying to get into one of his BMWs," said Jackson. "I then got a phone call from David and he laid down what he wanted to do, and his aims are the same as mine. I met him at Silverstone and we did the deal. It was only a week before the media day, so it was a late deal."

Despite the lateness of the deal, team and driver gelled from the start and the opening weekend of the season at Thruxton got the campaign off to a fine start. "We've got a great car. It's the best BMW that I've driven and massively so," said Jackson, even before the first race of the season. "Hats off to the Motorbase boys, they have delivered a stonking car. In the dry at Thruxton it was amazing. I'd never seen a 1m18s lap around there before."

Clearly, Mat is already enjoying life with the Motorbase squad. ""It's fantastic to be back in a BMW and it's great to be with Motorbase. The Airwaves crew is a good bunch of guys. There is a really good atmosphere and we all want to win."

DRIVER LINE-UP FOR 2010: