Plato Wins his Final Race as a Single Man
03 September 2006
Jason Plato has won his final race as a single man, after leading Round
22 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship from start to
finish at Knockhill today. An accident on the final lap of the second
race caused so much damage to his SEAT Sport UK Leon that it could not
be repaired in time for the start of the third and final race -
but the rollercoaster of racing emotions in Scotland will soon be forgotten
when the 2001 Champion marries Sophie on September 14th!
It was a similar up and down day for team-mate Darren Turner, who has
no plans as yet to marry, but who still didn't get the results
his outstanding performance at Knockhill deserved. He twice finished
in 2nd position - which would have been his best BTCC result -
only for a penalty in the first and second races meant he had to give
both trophies back. He started the third and final race from last place
on the grid and fought his way through the field to finish a fantastic
4th.
With just two race meetings, one at Brands Hatch and the final at Silverstone,
remaining, SEAT continues to lead the BTCC. Such is the high standard
of the team that even after what it considered to be a disappointing
day at Knockhill, it only dropped seven points to its nearest rival
and leads the Manufacturers' standings by 92 points. Despite seven
DNFs this year, two of which happened at Knockhill, Jason remains third
in the Drivers' table.Round
22: Having qualified first and second, Jason and Darren led all the
way to cross the chequered flag in thosepositions. It was Jason's
sixth race win of the season, but after the race Darren was given a
20 second penalty after another team had protested that he had been
more than the allowed five car lengths behind Jason at the restart,following
the first of two Safety Car periods.
Round 23: Because of the said penalty, Darren started the second race
of the day from 10th on the grid and fought his way up to finish a magnificent
2nd . However, before the start of the race the team had removed the
success ballast from his SEAT Leon, mistakenly thinking that they need
not carry any ballast (when starting 10th ) when in fact the success
ballast collected for crossing the line in 2nd place still applied.
Darren's car was therefore underweight at the post-race weigh-in
and for the second race in a row a superb 2nd place finish was taken
off him as he was excluded from the results.
Jason made a great start from pole and wasn't too bothered when
Fabrizio Giovanardi overtook him on lap six, as he was confident he
could re-take the lead in the second half of the race. However, he was
fired into the gravel by Matt Neal at Clark's Corner two laps
later, and from then on all the scraps and scrapes Jason was involved
in as he fought his way back up the field was a consequence of that
collision. Having dropped to 9th , Jason fought back to 4th- helped
by the fact that Giovanardi was driving a very defensive race up at
the front. On the final lap, Neal left a gap at Clark's Corner,
Jason made a move down the inside, Neal closed the door and the two
cars touched and spun. Tom Chilton, who was close behind Jason, had
nowhere to go and hit Jason's Leon, ripping the SEAT's frontright
wheel clean off. Jason tried to drive his three-wheeled Leon to the
finish line, but without brakes or steering he couldn't get around
the final hairpin and stopped in the gravel. Before Darren completed
his slowing down lap, he stopped to give his SEAT Sport UK team-mate
a lift back to the pits - it's not far back to the pits
from the hairpin, but it is an uphill walk after all!
Round 24: Having been excluded in the previous race, Darren started
the third and final BTCC race at Knockhill from 14th and last place.
Once again he drove magnificently and was this time allowed to keep
his 4th place finish.The damage to Jason's Leon was too great
for the team to repair in the limited amount of time between races,
leaving him to sit out the third and final race.
Jason (1st /DNF/DNS) said: "After our performance in qualifying
the weekend promised so much, but after winning the opening race it
all went rapidly downhill. Darren was unlucky to be given a penalty
after race one, and if that hadn't have happened we'd have
finished first and second in race one and started from first and second
places on the grid in race two. That would have made the world of difference
to how things actually turned out because we might have shot off into
the distance and not been involved in any incidents.
"In the second race I was happily running in second position
behind Fabrizio when Matt Neal just fired me into the gravel. There
was no gap for him to go for, he arrived at the corner 20mph too fast
and hit me so hard that had I not been there he would have been in the
gravel himself. I dropped from second to ninth and everything that happened
to me in the race after that was a consequence of that incident. I fought
my way back, overtook two Vauxhalls at the hairpin in one move, which
I was really pleased about, and then on the last lap I got on the inside
of Matt, he turned in on me and we both went sideways. Tom Chilton hit
me and wrecked my car, but I don't think he had anywhere else
to go to be honest, so it wasn't really his fault.
"The guys in the team did a stellar job to try and repair the
car for the last race, but there just wasn't enough time. That's
the problem of having three races in one day - if something happens
that's major it's very difficult to get the car out again.
But that's just how it is. What happened today is pretty much
the story of our year, because we've been incredibly unlucky.
We've had seven DNFs in this Championship so far and I'm
still third in the series, only three points behind Colin Turkington,
which proves what we can do without bad luck. We just have to pack up
from Knockhill, put some plasters on our cuts and bruises and turn up
at Brands Hatch and kick some arse!"
Darren (10th /Exc/4th ) said: "I was really happy with my pace
in the first race and with Jason in front we controlled the race, so
it was disappointing to pick up a penalty and drop to tenth having crossed
the line in second place. It didn't affect the outcome of the
race and nobody won anything by protesting and only I lost, but you
have to take these things on the chin. There was no point grizzling
about it and we set out to maximise what we could in the second race.
Starting from tenth on the grid, I really enjoyed the second race and
it was just unfortunate that we picked up another penalty because of
the weight of the car. Having been excluded from second place, I had
to start the last race from the back of the grid - but I battled
my way up to fourth position. I had a little bit of contact with Fabrizio
Giovanardi and I wasn't too happy with the way I got passed him
because it wasn't the cleanest of moves. I had a good move on
Gavin Smith which got me up to fourth and although it would have been
nice to have finished the day with a podium, it was good to finish fourth
having started from the back of the grid. I was very happy with the
car all day, it was very good, and I just got more and more confident
with it as the weekend wore on and I really enjoyed racing back at Knockhill
after ten years.
"I'm pleased with my performance this weekend, although
I'm still not completely in tune with the Leon - it still
does things sometimes during a race that I don't understand. There
are a lot of little things which will come with time and experience,
but after this weekend I feel that I'm not chasing the pack any
more and that I'm part of the pack and can give as good as I get.
I'm pleased with the progress I'm making in the BTCC and
I'm especially pleased with the team - we did a great job
this weekend, and although we didn't get the results we deserved,
we showed that it's all there. One of the biggest disappointments
of the weekend is that Jason had a bad second race and didn't
even get out for the third race, so that has taken the shine off the
races I've had."
The next rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
take place at Brands Hatch on September 23/24.
SEAT
See series calendar for British
Touring Car Championship 2006
Related Story 24.08.2006 - SEAT
Aims to Maintain its BTCC Lead at Knockhill
