SEAT has extended its lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after scoring 67 Manufacturer points at Mondello Park today – exactly the same number of points as it scored at the first race meeting at Brands Hatch! The points haul came courtesy of a truly great SEAT Sport UK team effort which saw Jason Plato finish 2nd, 2nd and 8th in the three races. James Thompson was 3rd in Race 1, hit into retirement in Race 2 and came from 12th on the grid to finish a brilliant 4th in Race 3.

Mondello Park is so twisty that a lap of the 2.1766 mile Irish circuit requires more gear changes than any other circuit on the BTCC calendar. With a lot of bumps and tight corners, racing is always incident full – and this year proved no exception.

Jason made a good start in the first of three BTCC races and pursued leader Matt Neal (Honda) relentlessly during the 14 lap encounter, but his Leon’s lack of raw straight line speed prevented him from really challenging for victory. He eventually finished exactly half a second behind in 2nd – but such was the pace of the top two that they where almost 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

The next man home was Jason’s team-mate, who finished 3rd with Colin Turkington (MG) on his rear bumper. With 45kgs of success ballast and slightly softer springs on his Leon, James did well to keep a hard-pushing Turkington behind to ensure both SEAT drivers finished on the podium.

It was a case of déjà vu for Jason in the second race of the day. After another good start he chased Neal hard, but this time he also had to defend his 2nd place from Turkington. He drove hard, set the fastest lap of the race (1:46.544) and finished 0.998 seconds behind Neal.

James made a great start in Race 2 and was fourth into the first corner when Gordon Shedden (Honda) came from nowhere and hit the rear of his Leon – a move which later saw Shedden excluded from the results. James was then hit and spun around by Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall), before being hit head on by Martyn Bell (BMW).

For the third and final race of the day the top eight finishers from the previous race started Round 6 of the BTCC in reserve order, which saw Jason starting 7th on the grid and James 12th. However, Jason had lined up in the wrong position and the ensuing drive through penalty ruined his chances of a clean sweep of podium results. Having rejoined in last place, he overtook Tom Chilton (Vauxhall) and Dave Pinkney (Honda) on the penultimate lap to finish 8th.

James drove a fantastic race and was soon up to 4th. But there he stayed, unable to get passed Neal to claim another podium finish. The race was won by Mike Jordan (Honda), with Turkington in 2nd.

Jason said (2nd/2nd/8th): “In the first race I made a pretty good start and pushed very hard, but it was impossible to catch Matt Neal. We lacked speed down the straights because of the drag, and I just couldn’t get close enough to out-brake him into a corner. The Leon is great under braking and through the corners, but at the end of the straights we are two car lengths behind the car ahead and that’s just too far to attempt a move. It’s a shame there wasn’t a bit more action in that race from where I was sitting.

“We had a better set-up in the second race, but it didn’t make any difference to our straight line speed. We also had a boot full of Turkington to content with, and while I was defending my position that helped Neal pull away. I’m not here to finish second, but I’ll take the points.

“In the last race I just made a mistake lining up on the grid. We put some yellow tape down to line up next to and I just couldn’t see it. By the time I saw the tape it was too late, and I knew a drive through penalty was coming my way.”

James said (3rd/DNF/4th): “The 45 kilos of success ballast was a real handicap in the first race, but I knew I had to keep Colin Turkington behind me because I think that if he’d got passed he would have had enough pace to catch Jason. He was able to drop back and catch me up at will, and you need a good car to do that.

“I got a quite a good start in the second race. Turkington made a fantastic start by the side of me and we followed the front row down to the first corner. I was miles ahead of anyone behind – or so I thought. Gordon Shedden came from nowhere down the inside and hit me so hard that it smashed the rear suspension. Optimistic doesn’t even begin to do his move justice. After that I was hit by a multitude of people. It’s very frustrating because in that race I think we really could have challenged for victory.

“The final race was quite good, but we caught Matt Neal and I just didn’t have the speed down the straights to overtake him. The car was really good, but there were no opportunities to overtake. We scored well in all three races today and extended our lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship, which is the main thing.”