Jason Plato will make his 200th Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship appearance at Croft on Sunday 16th July and the 38-year old 2001 Champion is determined to celebrate it with a win.

Two victories and five podiums this season has given Jason an on-going BTCC career total of 27 wins and 1469 points in 198 races – which is the best wins-to-race ratio of any driver on the current BTCC grid. With SEAT leading the Manufacturers’ table, Jason is aiming for more race wins to close the 45 point gap on defending champion Matt Neal, who currently leads the Drivers’ table.

Raised in the North East, Jason regards Croft circuit near Darlington in North Yorkshire as his ‘home track’, and it will be an all-local driver line-up in the SEAT Sport UK camp as Jason’s team-mate is Harrogate-based James Thompson. Unlike his BTCC rivals, there has been no six-week break for the 32-year old globetrotter to enjoy. Since the last BTCC race at Thruxton on June 4th, James has been on FIA World Touring Car Championship duties – testing in Spain and strengthening his challenge for the drivers’ title by taking his success-ballasted Leon to 5th and 4th in Brazil. James has also spent a week in South Africa helping launch the SEAT brand in a new market – but for once he’ll have a relatively short journey to his next race, arriving at Croft in 4th place in the BTCC (he is currently 2nd in the WTCC drivers’ standings).

His focus at Croft will be to score Manufacturer points for SEAT Sport UK, and after two victories and four podiums already this season – in a BTCC career which currently stands at two titles, 263 races, 32 race wins and 1855 points - James will be aiming for more success as the BTCC approaches the halfway point in the series.

Jason said: “I’m really looking forward to Croft for a number of reasons. Firstly, there has been a six week break in the BTCC and everyone in the team has had a bit of time to reflect on the season so far and recharge the batteries. We’ve had some good results and we’ve had some disappointments, but Croft is where our championship campaign must start. It’s a good feeling to have a very precise focus on what we have to do. Everyone knows, including myself, that we have to raise our game, operate at the very highest level, come up with the goods and win this championship.

“Secondly, Croft is a circuit I really enjoy racing on and where I’ve been successful in the past. It’s also a track which will suit the Leon, because it has a good mixture of slow and fast corners and it rewards a car with a good balance. Finally, I was brought up in the North East, so racing at Croft is very much like going home. Every time I’m racing there I visit family and friends and a lot come to Croft to watch the races. Croft puts on a great effort for the BTCC and it’s a nice place to go.

“Two hundred BTCC starts is a nice landmark, but I’d rather have two hundred wins! It really doesn’t seem that long ago that I was making my BTCC debut, but I remember it well because back in 1997 I started on pole for my first three touring car races. A lot has changed since then, but the fact I want to be on pole and win at Croft shows that maybe some things never change. Make no mistake, I’m going to Croft with one mind-set and that’s to win races. The championship is a long haul and we’re bang on target to win the Manufacturers’ title, but the Drivers’ title is there to win as well and to be able to do that we have to make sure that in each race we score more points than Matt Neal. We have to keep eating into his lead, and there is plenty of time to do it.”

James said: “It was strange not racing at Thruxton and knowing that the team was there racing without me. I didn’t like it at all, although Darren Turner did a really good job. I’m really looking forward to returning to the BTCC at Croft, because it’s my local circuit and I think the Leon will be exceptionally good around there. It’s quite a technical track and the critical parts of the circuit are where you need a car with a really good chassis, and that’s where the Leon excels. Personally I’ve got a good record at Croft. I’ve started a lot of races from pole and I’ve won more often than not there, so that will be the aim this time. We’re leading the Manufacturers’ standings and I’ll be there to try and score as many points for SEAT as possible and to help us increase that lead. The third and final race at Croft will mark the halfway point in the BTCC, so there is no better time to push our advantage home and put us in a strong position for the second half of the season.”