Currently: Presenter on C5's Fifth Gear motoring programme and competing in the BTCC.
Career highlights: 2001 BTCC Champion; 1996 Renault Spider Cup Champion; 1991 Formula Renault Euroseries Champion
Jason is arguably the highest-profile name in British motor sport and living proof of how talent and determination – not just a big wallet – can reap huge rewards. Jason’s career started in karts, winning several club-level titles before moving onto cars with Formula Renault by scraping together the budget to race for the Manor team – then a fledgling operation. He achieved immediate success, winning the European title and finishing third in the UK championship.
A spell in British F3 followed, but budget constraints then effectively consigned him to three years on the sidelines. However, he smartly regrouped to win the 1996 Renault Spider sportscar crown and, after banging on Sir Frank Williams’ door, was offered a place in the Williams-Renault BTCC squad in 1997. He has since won nearly 50 BTCC races, scored more than 2,000 points, won the BTCC Drivers’ title in 2001, guided SEAT Sport UK to the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ titles in 2006 and 2007 and won the British Racing Drivers’ Club Silver Star award a record four times. In 2009 he raced a Chevrolet for Racing Silverline to second spot in the final BTCC standings and was only beaten by fellow Go Motorsport Ambassador, Colin Turkington.
His television career includes presenting Driven (C4), Fifth Gear (C5), Speed Sunday (ITV1), Racing Rivals (C4 – with Nell McAndrew in 2003 and Terri Dwyer in ’04) and Mission Implausible (Sky One), and appearances on Hell’s Kitchen, Ready Steady Cook and A Question of Sport. A keen pilot, Jason is one of only a handful of civilians to have flown a £22M air-to-air combat British Aerospace Sea Harrier F/A2 jet fighter.