Three out of three BTCC wins for SEAT at Knockhill

SEAT Sport UK dominated the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship meeting at Knockhill, qualifying 1st and 2nd on the grid, recording the fastest lap time in all three races, winning all three races and setting a new lap record with its Leon TDI. Having taken an unequalled seventh win of the season with victory in Rounds 22 and 23 of the series, a collision saw Jason Plato end the third and final race in Scotland in the crash barriers; which is a serious blow to his BTCC Driver title aspirations. Darren Turner qualified on pole and after a bruising opening two races scored his second win of the year with a textbook drive in Round 24.

In front of a huge crowd, Jason set the fastest lap of Race 1 (53.496 / 85.54mph) on his way victory in the opening BTCC race of the weekend. In the next race, Jason started from pole and, with the maximum 45kgs of ballast on board his Leon TDI, was able to hold off the challenge of Championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi. With two wins out of two races, Jason had taken nine points out of the Italian to reduce the gap at the top of the BTCC Drivers’ standings from 44 to 35 points.

The reverse grid saw Jason start the third and final race at Knockhill from 9th place, and with Giovanardi starting just one place ahead he had high hopes of overtaking his rival and reducing the gap still further. But just eight laps into the 27 lap race, Jason overtook Giovanardi’s Vauxhall team-mate, Tom Onslow-Cole, at the hairpin. As they straightened up for the start/finish straight, Onslow-Cole hit the rear left corner of Jason’s car with such force that it snapped the suspension and sent the Leon TDI sharp left and into the crash barriers. Jason sat on the pit wall and watched Giovanardi finish 5th to pull six points back and nudge the gap back up to 41 points.

Having qualified on pole, Darren was pushed wide at Scotsman corner by Onslow-Cole on the opening lap of the first race, which dropped him from 2nd to 12th. Despite a big vibration from the front left wheel, Darren fought his way back up to 8th when, on lap 14, Tom Chilton (Honda Civic) left the door open at Carlube and Darren shot down the inside. The two made contract, and broken suspension sent the Leon TDI off sharp right and into the crash barriers on the inside of the corner.

As a result of his Race 1 retirement, Darren started Race 2 from 18th on the grid – but after a great start he was 14th by the end of the opening lap, 8th at mid-distance and was challenging for 6th when he tried to go around the outside of Colin Turkington (BMW 320si) at the hairpin on the penultimate lap. He was forced wide on exit, losing a place to Rob Collard (BMW 320si) and eventually finishing 8th. Darren also set a new lap record (53.283 / 85.89mph), breaking Gordon Shedden’s previous 53.311 best, which had stood for two years.

Darren made a great start from 2nd on the grid in Race 3 to overtake pole-sitter Andrew Jordan (Honda Integra) before the first corner, set the fastest lap of the race (53.389 / 85.72mph) and win – ensuring a hat-trick of victories at Knockhill for the Leon TDI.

Jason Plato (1st/1st/DNF): “I’ve won two races and Darren’s won the other, so it’s been a good day for the team. It’s a shame my weekend ended in a tyre wall. I made a forceful, aggressive touring car move on Tom [Onslow-Cole], which was needed because from where I was sitting it looked like he was under instructions not to let me past at any cost. He left the door open at the hairpin and I nipped through. I gave him enough room on the exit and I was off and gone when I got a big hit in the left rear. It’s unlike Tom to do that, so either something’s broken on his car and that’s forced him into me or he’s maliciously had me off. I was in front of him at the time so I didn’t see. But it’s still been a good day for the team. We really understand the Leon TDI now; we can qualify well, it’s got good race pace and it works well on the Dunlop control tyres. You can tell it’s a good car because the opposition is whingeing, but in the last five years Honda and Vauxhall have both had the best cars out there, so it’s nice to see that now it’s our turn. Mathematically we can still win the Drivers’ title, and of course we’ll keep on trying at Silverstone and Brands Hatch until the points say otherwise, but realistically my thoughts have already turned to next year.”

Darren Turner (DNF/8th/1st): “To qualify on pole and to get both cars on the front row of the grid was a great start to the weekend, but being fired off by Tom Onslow-Cole on the first lap was a very frustrating way to begin race day. After that I ended up getting involved in fights I shouldn’t have been involved in, which resulted in another incident and me ending the race in the tyre barriers. Race one was a big disappointment, but race two was great fun because I had to fight my way up from the back of the grid. I’d had a good clean race with Colin Turkington until closing stages, so I was a bit annoyed that he pushed me wide at the hairpin because it was unnecessary, but at least the result gave me a front row starting position for the start of the third race. I was a bit concern by the three BMWs that were starting around me because they are quick off the mark, but Andrew Jordan didn’t get a great start and I managed to slot into the lead before the first corner and just paced myself from there on. I was pleased to win, especially for the guys in the team who work on car 12 and did a great job to repair it after the first race.”

Scott Dennis, SEAT UK Motorsport Manager: “We did some simulation work before we arrived at Knockhill to try and find out what the Leon TDI might be like around here, and from that we thought the car would be very strong. For the third consecutive race meeting we locked out the front row in qualifying, and whilst it is a fantastic achievement to win all three races we feel slightly disappointed that we didn’t maximise our full potential. With such a strong performance on Saturday, it’s not unrealistic to aim for a first and second place finish in the opening two races, but for various reasons we weren’t able to do that. Then Jason finished the final race in the crash barriers, meaning that once again only one car scored well. The incidents which put Darren out of race one and Jason out of race three might not have been of our making, but it meant that we didn’t have the results we deserved this weekend.”

Rounds 25, 26 and 27 of the BTCC takes place at Silverstone on August 30-31.