SEAT sets its sights on Silverstone success

Having won six of the last nine races, SEAT Sport UK hopes to continue its run of success with its Leon TDI when the penultimate race weekend of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place at Silverstone (August 30/31).

Three out of three race wins at Knockhill in Scotland last time out has given SEAT nine wins so far this season, two more than arch rivals Vauxhall. The pace-setting Leon TDI has gained pole position twice as many times as the Vectra, while Jason Plato has scored an unequalled seven race wins so far this year. He’s aiming to break his own record of nine wins in a single season, but with only six races of the season remaining Jason is 41 points behind Fabrizio Giovanardi on the Drivers’ standings. With a maximum of 100 points still available, the title is not yet decided – although in reality it would need the Italian driver to have a run of non-points scoring races and Jason to score big points to overturn the current Championship standings.

Jason holds the BTCC lap record around the 1.639 mile Silverstone National Circuit – a 1min 00.927secs (96.84mph), which he set in September 2005 in a SEAT Toledo. Despite this, SEAT Sport UK has an uncharacteristically mediocre record at Silverstone, winning just one of the nine BTCC races it has contested there. That honour goes to Luke Hines, who, in 2005, took the chequered flag in 2nd place in his SEAT Toledo, but was later elevated to 1st when race winner Jason Plato was penalised after what was adjudged to have been an over-aggressive overtaking manoeuvre on Tom Chilton. In six BTCC races around the Silverstone National Circuit, Jason has only stood on the podium once, although he did score two 3rd place finishes in 2004 when the BTCC racing took place around the longer International Circuit.

With no BTCC round at Silverstone last year, Darren’s outing with SEAT in 2006 is the only time in 12 years that he has raced on the venue’s National Circuit. He has achieved two pole positions and two race wins so far this season in his Leon TDI, including a dominant victory in the last race at Knockhill. Darren will return from a Bank Holiday weekend jolly in Japan, where he’d honoured a long-standing promise to watch his friend Peter Dumbreck race in the Super GT Championship, to prepare for the Rounds 25, 26 and 27 of the BTCC.

Jason Plato: “The Silverstone National Circuit should suit our Leon TDI perfectly and I think we’ll be very strong there. The track only has six corners, two of which are tight and lead on to long straights – and that’s exactly where we can benefit from the extra torque of the turbo-diesel engine. At this stage of the season all we can do is try to qualify on pole, win races and set fastest laps. I’m forty-one points behind Fabrizio and we have nothing to lose. We’ll try to do our very best at Silverstone and put on a good show for the fans. We need Fabrizio to score zero points in the first two races and for me to win both to stand any hope of winning the title. All I can do is try to win races, and that’ll be the aim at Silverstone.”

Darren Turner: “Even though the Silverstone National Circuit isn’t the most challenging compared to some of the other tracks we race at during the season, it’s a lot of fun. Copse is a high speed corner and there are always a lot of shenanigans going on in the complex at the end of the lap. The lap isn’t very long, so it makes it very interesting for the spectators because we lap in under seventy-five seconds and all the cars run close together throughout the race. The BTCC needs the best British circuits on its calendar. I missed Silverstone when it wasn’t on the BTCC calendar last year and I’m really looking forward to going back there this season.”

Scott Dennis, SEAT UK Motorsport Manager: “We have done a tremendous about of hard work this year to develop the Leon TDI for the specific demands of the BTCC, and it’s a great credit to the SEAT Sport UK team and our colleagues in Spain that we are now making such good progress with the car. Our aim is to continue to learn all we can about our diesel package and try and finish the season on a high. I’m pleased that the BTCC is returning to Silverstone after a year’s absence and whilst the layout of the track suggests that it will suit the Leon TDI, we have no data to support this claim and, as we have found at other circuits, finding a good set-up during the two free practice sessions on Saturday will be crucial to our results race day.”

The BTCC race weekend at Silverstone begins with two 40-minute free practice sessions on Saturday 30th August, starting at 10.00 and 12.35, followed by a 30-minute qualifying session starting at 15.00. Rounds 25, 26 and 27 of the BTCC take place on Sunday 31st August, with the three 22-lap races around the 1.639 mile National Circuit starting at 11.20, 14.05 and 16.45.

ITV4 will have live and uninterrupted race day TV coverage between 12.30-17.30.