Jason Plato ahead of qualifying at Brands Hatch

Sat 4th April 2009 I thought I was going to be fitting a new bathroom this weekend!

Today is the first time I’ve driven the car on a circuit. We’ve still got quite a lot of work to do to balance the car on the Dunlop tyres, as obviously it’s been developed to run on the [WTCC-spec] Yokohama’s. There’s still a bit of time to find. We’ve got a bit of understeer, but I think we can cure that.

I’m so pleased to be here and it’s great to be back in a petrol car. The diesel was the dullest thing in the world. It doesn’t turn and it doesn’t stop. Ok, it was good to drive because it was competitive, but you didn’t get any enjoyment out of driving it.

I’d like to put it in the top five in qualifying and I’d be very happy if we could get top three, but we just don’t know. We know the pace at the front is pretty hot and we know they did a 48.6 here is testing. The top five is our target and I think if we could get among the Vauxhalls, that would put a smile on my face and on the face of the team, who have worked so hard to get us here.