Having won seven of the last nine races at Brands Hatch, SEAT Sport UK has an excellent record at the Kent track – but with Jason Plato, the leader of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, arriving there with 45kgs of success ballast on his SEAT Leon, and the opposition 21 races stronger in terms of development, Jason believes winning this time around (August 18/19) will be a lot more difficult than many pundits predict.

Jason won the opening two rounds of the 2007 BTCC at Brands Hatch in April, but he arrived there with no extra weight – unlike now, when he’ll begin the race weekend with maximum ballast. He currently enjoys a 14 point lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, and Jason knows that beating one man, arch rival Fabrizio Giovanardi, will help not only extend that points advantage, but help SEAT in its quest of retaining its Manufacturers’ title and increase SEAT Sport UK’s lead at the top of the Teams’ standings. Jason has already scored 11 podium finishes, which includes six race wins, this year, and the 39-year old driver from Oxfordshire knows he must continue his great run to give himself a points cushion going into the final two race meetings of the season at Knockhill and Thruxton – venues which don’t suit the Leon as well, especially one carrying extra weight.

Darren has scored five podium results this season, including his maiden BTCC race victory, in his first full season and will be keen to add to that. The 33-year old driver from Leamington Spa is currently eighth in the BTCC Drivers’ table, but only five more points would move him up three places – and whilst the focus is clearly on the bigger team picture, Darren is keen to improve his personal points tally as well. Arriving at Brands Hatch with no extra weight on his SEAT Leon, the team will be looking to Darren to challenge for pole position and score maximum Manufacturer points in the opening race.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Piers Phillips, SEAT Sport Race Engineer: “All the teams that started the 2007 season with new cars have had twenty-one rounds to learn about their cars and develop their set-ups. This, aligned to the fact that Jason will carry 45 kilos as Championship leader, will make the first part of his race weekend at Brands Hatch very difficult. We know our car was very good there early in the season and we will push forward from that point to improve the car further in the free practice sessions and generally over the weekend. But it’s notoriously difficult to overtake around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, which makes it even more crucial to qualify well. Going into Brands with no success ballast will allow Darren to attack from the word go and be up there in the fight for pole position in qualifying and hopefully transfer that into race winning performances on Sunday. There has been so much work done on the Leon since the end of last season and we are benefiting from this. Not only in the development areas of performance achieved in pre-season testing, but also in the workshop where increasing the car’s ability to survive in the rough and tumble of the BTCC has proved invaluable.”

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato: “We all know that Brands Hatch is a good circuit for the Leon, and we’ll be going there with a lot of confidence – but I don’t think it will be as easy of people might think. Since we were there last, all the other teams have done a lot of development work on their cars and they will be a lot stronger this time around, and we’ll be starting the race weekend with forty-five kilos of success ballast, which we didn’t have at the opening race of the season. The extra weight will really hurt us around Brands in qualifying and it will be a tough opening race. If you remember back to the third race at Brands at the start of the season; because of the reverse grid I started from seventh with forty-five kilos and really struggled to move up, eventually finishing fifth. Rather than end the race weekend at Brands like that, this time we’ll be beginning it. That makes a big difference. But we’re very focused on what we have to do, and that is to out-score one driver – Fabrizio Giovanardi. If we do that, we’ll be scoring important points in the Drivers’, Manufacturers’ and Teams’ tables.”

Darren Turner: “Historically, SEAT has always gone very well at Brands Hatch. The competition is a lot stronger now and it will be difficult to expect the same results as we’ve achieved there in recent times. Jason’s got a good lead in the Drivers’ table and SEAT Sport UK is leading the Teams’ Championship, so we have to focus on the Manufacturers’ title and make sure we finish ahead of Vauxhall. Looking at the qualifying stats, I’ve got the best average of everyone this year, so I want to keep that up and put myself in a strong position to help the team as much as I can on race day. I’m not in a very strong position in the Drivers’ table, but I’ve given away more than four points this year and that’s the difference between eighth, where I am at the moment, and sixth, so I’d certainly like to move up the points table if I can. But that’s not the most important thing at this stage of the series, and as a team we are very focused on what is important.”

Scott Dennis, Head of SEAT UK Motorsport, said: “We head to Brands Hatch for the second time this year positive about our ability to get the best from the Leon around a circuit which has, in the past, rewarded our efforts. However, nothing stays the same, and as the season has progressed the competition has made some performance gains with their new cars. We can take nothing for granted and I fully expect the competition to push us all the way; in fact I’d be shocked if they didn’t! Jason goes into the weekend carrying full success ballast and his Saturday afternoon qualifying will be crucial to the success of his weekend. Darren has the advantage of carrying no ballast and I expect to see him at the front of the grid for race one on Sunday morning. I’m sure the three races at Brands will be as exciting and unpredictable as ever, and thanks to ITV’s decision to extend its race day coverage to include live coverage of race two on ITV4, the armchair spectator has the opportunity to witness even more live tin-top racing. As Jason and Darren have both said, the team is very focused on what’s important this weekend and I’m confident we can deliver!”