Plato Aiming for BTCC Drivers Title in 2007

13 March 2007

Having guided SEAT to last season's Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Manufacturers' title, Jason Plato is going all-out to become Drivers' Champion in 2007, declaring that winning the title in 2007 with SEAT "would be ever so special".

It is six years since Jason won the BTCC title back in 2001. Last year he finished runner-up to Matt Neal, after scoring eight wins and 14 podium results. With a full season in the SEAT Sport UK Leon under his belt and the introduction of the S2000 rules across the board, Jason feels that this is the best opportunity he's ever had to add a second title to his celebrated CV.

"It would mean an enormous amount to me if I won the Drivers' Championship again, as 2001 is a long time ago," said Jason. "It's all very nice to have good driver statistics in terms of wins to race ratios, but I want titles. I'd love to win the Drivers' Championship with SEAT as I've been involved with the team since day one and it would be ever so special to achieve it together. I can remember when we first sat down for an initial meeting in a hotel in Northampton and we kicked around a few ideas, so it would be very special to see it all the way through to the end. This is the year that we want to win all three – the BTCC Manufacturers', Teams' and Drivers' titles."

Jason is aware of the importance of team work. He's worked with SEAT Sport UK since before the team entered the BTCC in 2004, and he is very proud of the achievements it has made over the past three years. Winning the Manufacturers' title last year was a crucial step in SEAT's development as a professional front running team and now the benchmark has been set to win all three titles. Given SEAT's progression since 2004 it's not an unrealistic achievement.

"We definitely have to win all three Championships this year," adds Jason. "SEAT is the classiest manufacturer on the grid by a long way; it does things with a certain style which is the measure of the paddock. We won the Manufacturers' Championship last year and now we want the Teams' and the Drivers' titles this year too. I think it's fair to say that if I hadn't made a few mistakes last year, and the team hadn't also made a few mistakes, we could have won the Drivers' Championship as well as the Manufacturers'. We did have our fair share of bad luck along the way but had those mistakes not been made it would have been very close. If we perform at the level that I know we can perform at, and I expect us to perform at, then I know without a doubt that we can make a clean sweep and have a tremendous year."

The dynamics of the SEAT Sport UK team are set to change this year. In 2006 Jason was the only driver to contest the full BTCC season with James Thompson and Darren Turner playing supportive roles. This year both Darren and Jason will be given equal status and opportunity. Having already worked well with Darren last year Jason sees this as a positive transition and one that he feels can only help push the team to bigger achievements.

"One of the nice things with Darren is that first and foremost he wants to win himself," acknowledges Jason. "There will be no quarter given this year, which is how it should be and that's how I like to compete. There is also a level of honesty between us so they'll be no crooked bats played, it'll all be very open. Darren's character and style suits the way the team works. That's often overlooked but very important; it's very easy to have someone join the team and upset the equilibrium. I've been here a long time and everyone knows how I like to work and Darren fits in very well with that.

"We also have a very similar style in the car, so when Darren uses my set-up and vice versa we tend to dislike the same things and want the same things from the car, so that should help in improving our performance and help us to cover more ground in terms of development. It's also good to have someone to gain a second opinion from; I'm really looked forward to having him in the team for the full season."

SEAT

See series calendar for British Touring Car Championship 2007

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