Jason Plato has won his final race as a single man, after leading Round 22 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship from start to finish at Knockhill today. An accident on the final lap of the second race caused so much damage to his SEAT Sport UK Leon that it could not be repaired in time for the start of the third and final race – but the rollercoaster of racing emotions in Scotland will soon be forgotten when the 2001 Champion marries Sophie on September 14th!

It was a similar up and down day for team-mate Darren Turner, who has no plans as yet to marry, but who still didn’t get the results his outstanding performance at Knockhill deserved. He twice finished in 2nd position – which would have been his best BTCC result – only for a penalty in the first and second races meant he had to give both trophies back. He started the third and final race from last place on the grid and fought his way through the field to finish a fantastic 4th.

With just two race meetings, one at Brands Hatch and the final at Silverstone, remaining, SEAT continues to lead the BTCC. Such is the high standard of the team that even after what it considered to be a disappointing day at Knockhill, it only dropped seven points to its nearest rival and leads the Manufacturers’ standings by 92 points. Despite seven DNFs this year, two of which happened at Knockhill, Jason remains third in the Drivers’ table.

Round 22: Having qualified first and second, Jason and Darren led all the way to cross the chequered flag in those positions. It was Jason’s sixth race win of the season, but after the race Darren was given a 20 second penalty after another team had protested that he had been more than the allowed five car lengths behind Jason at the restart, following the first of two Safety Car periods.

Round 23: Because of the said penalty, Darren started the second race of the day from 10th on the grid and fought his way up to finish a magnificent 2nd. However, before the start of the race the team had removed the success ballast from his SEAT Leon, mistakenly thinking that they need not carry any ballast (when starting 10th) when in fact the success ballast collected for crossing the line in 2nd place still applied. Darren’s car was therefore underweight at the post-race weigh-in and for the second race in a row a superb 2nd place finish was taken off him as he was excluded from the results.

Jason made a great start from pole and wasn’t too bothered when Fabrizio Giovanardi overtook him on lap six, as he was confident he could re-take the lead in the second half of the race. However, he was fired into the gravel by Matt Neal at Clark’s Corner two laps later, and from then on all the scraps and scrapes Jason was involved in as he fought his way back up the field was a consequence of that collision. Having dropped to 9th, Jason fought back to 4th – helped by the fact that Giovanardi was driving a very defensive race up at the front. On the final lap, Neal left a gap at Clark’s Corner, Jason made a move down the inside, Neal closed the door and the two cars touched and spun. Tom Chilton, who was close behind Jason, had nowhere to go and hit Jason’s Leon, ripping the SEAT’s front right wheel clean off. Jason tried to drive his three-wheeled Leon to the finish line, but without brakes or steering he couldn’t get around the final hairpin and stopped in the gravel. Before Darren completed his slowing down lap, he stopped to give his SEAT Sport UK team-mate a lift back to the pits – it’s not far back to the pits from the hairpin, but it is an uphill walk after all!

Round 24: Having been excluded in the previous race, Darren started the third and final BTCC race at Knockhill from 14th and last place. Once again he drove magnificently and was this time allowed to keep his 4th place finish. The damage to Jason’s Leon was too great for the team to repair in the limited amount of time between races, leaving him to sit out the third and final race.

Jason (1st/DNF/DNS) said: “After our performance in qualifying the weekend promised so much, but after winning the opening race it all went rapidly downhill. Darren was unlucky to be given a penalty after race one, and if that hadn’t have happened we’d have finished first and second in race one and started from first and second places on the grid in race two. That would have made the world of difference to how things actually turned out because we might have shot off into the distance and not been involved in any incidents.

“In the second race I was happily running in second position behind Fabrizio when Matt Neal just fired me into the gravel. There was no gap for him to go for, he arrived at the corner 20mph too fast and hit me so hard that had I not been there he would have been in the gravel himself. I dropped from second to ninth and everything that happened to me in the race after that was a consequence of that incident. I fought my way back, overtook two Vauxhalls at the hairpin in one move, which I was really pleased about, and then on the last lap I got on the inside of Matt, he turned in on me and we both went sideways. Tom Chilton hit me and wrecked my car, but I don’t think he had anywhere else to go to be honest, so it wasn’t really his fault.

“The guys in the team did a stellar job to try and repair the car for the last race, but there just wasn’t enough time. That’s the problem of having three races in one day – if something happens that’s major it’s very difficult to get the car out again. But that’s just how it is. What happened today is pretty much the story of our year, because we’ve been incredibly unlucky. We’ve had seven DNFs in this Championship so far and I’m still third in the series, only three points behind Colin Turkington, which proves what we can do without bad luck. We just have to pack up from Knockhill, put some plasters on our cuts and bruises and turn up at Brands Hatch and kick some arse!”

Darren (10th/Exc/4th) said: “I was really happy with my pace in the first race and with Jason in front we controlled the race, so it was disappointing to pick up a penalty and drop to tenth having crossed the line in second place. It didn’t affect the outcome of the race and nobody won anything by protesting and only I lost, but you have to take these things on the chin. There was no point grizzling about it and we set out to maximise what we could in the second race. Starting from tenth on the grid, I really enjoyed the second race and it was just unfortunate that we picked up another penalty because of the weight of the car. Having been excluded from second place, I had to start the last race from the back of the grid – but I battled my way up to fourth position. I had a little bit of contact with Fabrizio Giovanardi and I wasn’t too happy with the way I got passed him because it wasn’t the cleanest of moves. I had a good move on Gavin Smith which got me up to fourth and although it would have been nice to have finished the day with a podium, it was good to finish fourth having started from the back of the grid. I was very happy with the car all day, it was very good, and I just got more and more confident with it as the weekend wore on and I really enjoyed racing back at Knockhill after ten years.

“I’m pleased with my performance this weekend, although I’m still not completely in tune with the Leon – it still does things sometimes during a race that I don’t understand. There are a lot of little things which will come with time and experience, but after this weekend I feel that I’m not chasing the pack any more and that I’m part of the pack and can give as good as I get. I’m pleased with the progress I’m making in the BTCC and I’m especially pleased with the team – we did a great job this weekend, and although we didn’t get the results we deserved, we showed that it’s all there. One of the biggest disappointments of the weekend is that Jason had a bad second race and didn’t even get out for the third race, so that has taken the shine off the races I’ve had.”

The next rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Brands Hatch on September 23/24.