Plato storms back to the top – but it’s a wet weekend for Seat’s rivals
Jason Plato weathered the storms at Donington Park yesterday to win two out of three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races and emphatically restore his lead in the Drivers’ standings. By beating arch rival Fabrizio Giovanardi in all three races, Jason has turned a one-point deficit into a commanding 25-point advantage. SEAT Sport UK also takes the lead in the Teams’ Championship, and has halved the gap between itself and Vauxhall at the top of the Manufacturers’ table. And all at a racing circuit which historically has not been good for SEAT.
Darren Turner qualified second and held second in two races, but while the torrential rain and wet conditions played into Jason’s hands, it created problems for Darren. He locked up and overshot the chicane in the first race, and after finishing 6th in race two his windscreen wipers failed when he was challenging for the lead in race three.
Plato was understandably thrilled at the team’s performance: ‘The great British summer has played into our hands, because that’s what has made the difference today. The wet is a great engine leveller; engine performance becomes less important and it’s more about the car, and as we know the Leon has a fantastic chassis.
‘Bearing in mind we came to Donington expecting it to be a case of damage limitation, we’ve ended up scoring a great deal of points. The team was really up for this, and to reward all the hard work they have put in with two race wins is wonderful. We’ve taken fifteen points off Vauxhall in the Manufacturers’, we’ve taken the lead in the Teams’ Championship and I’m back in the lead in the Drivers’ standings. It’s been a top weekend.’
Darren Turner said ‘It’s been a race weekend of highs and lows. Race one was going well until I locked up coming into the chicane and shot down the escape road, so it was disappointing to be in a strong position but only finish 12th. Race two was good; I started 12th and finished sixth – and with the reverse grid I was sitting pretty on the second row for the third race. I got up to second and then my windscreen wipers packed up. With only one car ahead it wasn’t impossible, but then Jason caught me and as I wasn’t in complete control of the car because I couldn’t see exactly where I was going, I wasn’t in a position to fight. As soon as there were two cars ahead of me, that was it – the visibility was halved again.
‘I haven’t got the results I was personally hoping for, but the important thing is that it’s been a great weekend for the team.’
The next BTCC race meeting takes place at Snetterton in Norfolk on 29th July.
