Fourth BTCC Victory Keeps Plato out in Front

08 May 2007

Jason Plato scored SEAT Sport UK’s first race win at Thruxton since 2004 to maintain his lead in the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. His fourth win of the season, together with a 2nd and a 6th in the other two races at arguably the SEAT Leon’s weakest track, sees him head into the mid-season – and on to more Leon friendly circuit – with a nine point lead over Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Darren Turner was fast all weekend around the 2.356 mile ultra-fast Hampshire circuit, and even more delighted having mastered the standing starts in his SEAT Leon. He was heading for his second podium of the day when he was hit from behind coming into the Club Chicane in Round 8, which sent him and Matt Allison slamming head-on into the crash barriers. Worse still, Allison’s SEAT Toledo bounced into the air and landed on the front bonnet of Darren’s SEAT Leon, causing even more damage. The Northampton-based SEAT Sport UK team worked miracles in the two hours between races to repair the car and allow Darren to finish the third and final race of the day in 6th.

An exciting opening race saw Jason come from 7th on the grid with 45kgs of maximum success ballast to finish 2nd, and Darren finishing 3rd, despite an early collision and resultant tyre wear problems in the closing stages.

Darren made a good start, but contact with Mike Jordan’s Honda cost him places and put out the tracking on his Leon. He was down in 5th at the end of the opening lap, but with a lighter car and better pace was even able to overtake Jason as he fought back to 2nd. However, his pace slowed on the final lap as his tyres went off, and Jason overtook and moved into 2nd at the final corner. Race winner Giovanardi pulled off the circuit soon after the chequered flag with an engine problem.

A SEAT Sport UK mechanic had to stay on the grid beyond the 30 second board to start Jason’s engine before the start of the warm-up lap for race two, and having made a great start and held on to 2nd place, Jason came into the pits at the end of the opening lap to take his drive-through penalty. He dropped to 19th and from there launched a fantastic comeback, to finish an astonishing 6th.

Darren made another great start from 3rd on the grid, but was boxed in behind Giovanardi on the run down to the first corner and dropped to 6th. Having moved up to 4th, Darren was enjoying a clean fight with Matt Allison (SEAT Toledo), and was alongside him entering the Club Chicane on lap six, when he was hit from behind by the SEAT Toledo of Gareth Howell. Darren and Allison collided and ran off the track together, both slamming head-first into the crash barrier – with the Toledo bouncing high into the air and landing on the front bonnet of the Leon, causing even more damage.

With the top 10 from the previous race randomly selected to start the third and final race of the day in reverse order, Jason started Round 9 from 5th place on the grid, while Darren Turner started at the back for the third race this year. Jason made a great start and came out of the Complex in 3rd place and was up to 2nd by the end of the opening lap, having overtaken Colin Turkington at the Club Chicane. Jason quickly closed in on leader Dave Pinkney and took the lead with a classic overtaking manoeuvre at the Club Chicane on lap 6. Despite Gordon Shedden and Jordan overtaking Pinkney and pursuing Jason, the 2001 Champion held on to score SEAT Sport UK’s first race victory at Thruxton since 2004 – at an average speed of 103.96mph!

Darren made his third good start of the day from 19th on the grid and was up to 10th by the end of the opening lap. He moved up two places on lap 3 and moved from 8th to 5th with a brilliant move at the Club Chicane on lap 7. He almost overtook Giovanardi for 4th in the closing stages, but was himself overtaken by Matt Neal on the final lap and finished 6th.

Jason Plato (2nd/6th/1st): “A first, a second and a sixth is a good weekend’s work for us at Thruxton. I believe I could have won the second race, had we not had that drive through penalty – but that said, I would have then started the final race with maximum ballast and from tenth on the grid, so I might not have finished higher than sixth anyway. Fabrizio Giovanardi’s had a very strong weekend, but we thought that Vauxhall would take some points off us at Thruxton. But he did have some good luck as his engine broke on the slowing down lap in race one; had there been a safety car period in that race his engine might have gone before the end of the race, he’d have started race two from the back of the grid and his day might have been a whole lot different. We now head off into the mid-part of the season to circuits that really suit the SEAT Leon. I’m really looking forward to going to Croft and Oulton Park, because that’s where we’ll be good and at the end of the year what we have scored here at Thruxton might make the difference. In terms of winning a title, every little helps.”

Darren Turner (3rd/DNF/6th): “I’m really happy. I’ve been fastest in both free practice sessions, missed out on pole in qualifying by a few tenths and I’ve had three good race starts – and I’ve never had a good race start full stop since I’ve been driving these touring cars! I started the first race in second, got boxed in, picked up a bit of damage and finished third. I was a bit disappointed with that, because you never want to finish lower down than where you started. The second race was a big disappointed. I was having a good scrap with Matt Allison before his team-mate [Gareth Howell] decided to join in and Matt and I had quite a large accident. It caused an awful lot of damage to my car, and the SEAT Sport UK mechanics did a fantastic job to put it back together again. When I was sitting in the Armco at the chicane I really thought that was the end of my day, but the team pulled out all the stops and repaired a car which I thought had had it. We had a few handling problems in the final race and my tyres went off towards the end, but it was just amazing that we were in the race at all. I started nineteen, got up as high as fifth and finished sixth – so I was very pleased. But most of all I’m really happy about my starts!”

SEAT

See series calendar for British Touring Car Championship 2007

Related Story 03.04.2007 - New Contest Awaits Blanckley as BTCC Hits Thruxton