Mat Jackson has criticised the driving of some of his fellow competitors in the British Touring Car Championship, with the Motorbase driver citing ‘stupid manoeuvres’ which left him with only a handful of points at the weekend.

A difficult qualifying session saw the Ford driver put his Focus in just 18th place for the day’s first race. From there, Jackson managed to improve to take the chequered flag in 11th and collect five points – but that would prove to be the high point of the weekend.

In race two, Jackson was forced out on the opening lap following contact with Andrew Jordan’s BMW, pitching the Focus into the tyre barriers at Schwantz Curve.

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From the back of the grid for the wet final race, things didn’t get any better and Jackson was again forced out on the opening lap due to contact with the Honda of Matt Simpson.

“Unfortunately at the moment we’re unable to get the run on other cars because of something that’s out of our control,” said Jackson, who collected just five points in the East Midlands. “As a result of that, every lap that we race is completely on the edge and there’s no room for error.

“This weekend hasn’t gone well through no fault of our own. We’ve been caught up in other people’s stupid manoeuvres and it’s cost us highly.”

Motorbase Performance Team Principal David Bartrum was particularly critical of the incidents which caused Jackson’s first double retirement in four years.

“You’d have to go a long way back in Motorbase history to find two DNF’s for Mat Jackson,” said Bartrum. “Unfortunately our qualifying performance was compromised by something out of our control and that set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

“Mat was taken out by Jordan in race two and again by Simpson in race three which completely derailed his weekend. Neither of the incidents were anywhere near in his control, he was totally blameless.

“There has been some questionable driving again and I think we need to see a lot more discipline being enforced in regards to how these incidents are dealt with.

“I appreciate that the officials have a difficult job to do, and in these weather conditions things happen, but there is a problem that needs sorting because the damage is everywhere.

“Mat’s car is extensively damaged and Martin [Depper] was also hit very hard in the last race and has significant damage, which means a lot of extra work for the boys back at the workshop.”