Plato's 'great weekend'

Tue 7th April 2009 “I thought I was going to be fitting a new bathroom!” That’s what Jason Plato had planned for the opening weekend of the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Instead, the former BTCC champion was racing at Brands Hatch and left the Kent circuit as a race winner – even if he didn’t get to stand on the top step of the podium.

Plato’s deal to drive an independently entered Chevrolet Lacetti, prepared by RML, came about on Wednesday of the week leading up to the event, leaving the team seriously short on time to get the car on track. Plato is no stranger to the team – Ray Mallock’s outfit ran SEAT’s BTCC effort in its first year, back in 2004. Nonetheless, it was still a tough task to get out on track.

“At the 11th hour we managed to get out”, said Plato. “Massive thanks to everyone at RML. It’s their stellar efforts that they’ve put in since Wednesday evening that have made this happen. Two all-nighters, the team looks sharp, and they’ve performed really well. And look what we’ve come away with – a win.”

Plato’s win came in the third race of the day, but only after a dose of controversy. After starting on pole position, Plato was leading the race on the second lap, trailed by Airwaves BMW BTCC debutant Jonny Adam. Adam’s BMW was quick, but Plato’s Chevrolet was suddenly very wide. Adam braked later into Paddock Hill Bend, tapping the back of the Lacetti, sending it sideways into a slide that looked destined for the gravel. Somehow though, Plato managed to recover it, losing just a single position in the process.

Adam eased off into the distance for the remainder of the race and looked to have scored a debut BTCC victory, only for race officials to step in after the podium ceremony and apply a four-second penalty, which promoted Plato to first.

When you’re on a tight budget, looking to secure sponsorship to contest the rest of the season, such is the unusual situation Plato finds himself in, there is little more you could ask for than a win live on ITV. It was far from easy though - with the Lacetti used to running on the WTCC’s Yokohama tyres, understeer plagued the car during practice and qualifying and was still evident throughout Sunday’s races.

“The car’s not right at the moment”, said Plato at the end of the weekend. “We’ve got a lot of work to do on it. Over the course of the weekend, we’ve learned a lot with it. There’s definitely performance there to unlock. We’ve just got to make it work with the Dunlops and it’s not at the moment.”

Jason Plato tends to divide opinion among follower of the BTCC. But love him or hate him, (maybe there’s an idea for a potential sponsor in there somewhere…), he certainly tends to liven things up a bit. With backing from The Sun, he also helps bring mainstream media coverage to the championship. Given the chance to put together a proper campaign, he and the RML team might just throw a spanner in the works of the leading championship contenders.

Will he back at Thruxton? The response was simple: “We’ll see. We need to get some more dough in the door.”

Plato concluded, “It’s been a great weekend. There’s been a bit of drama, there’s a story there. There’s been some really competitive, close racing, lots of action and it’s been a pleasure to be part of it.”