Jason Plato heads to the penultimate race meeting of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship aiming to add to his two previous victories at Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre at Knockhill on Sunday 2 September – and to extend the lead in the Drivers’ Championship he has held for most of the season.

Jason is the only driver to have scored points in all 24 BTCC races so far this season, and with six race victories and 11 podiums this year, he holds a four point lead over Fabrizio Giovanardi. Even with the maximum 45kgs of success ballast in his SEAT Leon, Jason out-qualified his arch rival at the last race meeting at Brands Hatch, and will be looking to do the same at Knockhill. The Leon’s chassis is ideally balanced for most of the short rollercoaster lap, with only the car’s racing aerodynamic package putting it at a relative disadvantage on the long uphill drag past the start/finish line.

Despite qualifying one-two at Knockhill last year, SEAT Sport UK has a somewhat mixed race history in Scotland. Jason won on his first visit with the SEAT Sport UK team in 2004 and again last year, but victory in 2006 was followed by an accident on the final lap of the second race, which ripped a wheel off and caused so much damage to his SEAT Leon that it could not be repaired in time for the start of the third and final race.

It’s also only one of two places where a SEAT Sport UK driver has been disqualified from a BTCC race – in 114 starts! Having crossed the line in 2nd place, behind Jason, last year, team-mate Darren Turner was later given a 20 second penalty after he was adjudged to have been more than the permitted five car lengths behind the car in front at the restart, following a Safety Car period. This dropped Darren down to 10th, which is where he started the second race from – but having fought back brilliantly to finish 2nd again, he was excluded after a team mix-up with what success ballast he needed to carry. Starting the third and final race from 14th and last on the grid, Darren drove magnificently to finish 4th – a finishing position he was, this time, allowed to keep! (The only other disqualification was Rob Huff from 2nd place at Mondello Park in 2004, after what was adjudged to have been an aggressive overtaking manoeuvre made on Michael Bentwood).

The weather is always a feature at Knockhill. Situated close to Dunfermline in the Kingdom of Fife, the circuit sits on a hillside 800 feet above the Forth Estuary and has a mysterious microclimate which can bring thick fog, heavy rain and difficult driving conditions. With a varying gradient of steep uphill climbs, downhill drops, sharp corners and few overtaking opportunities, it might be the second shortest circuit (behind the 1.226 mile Brands Hatch Indy Circuit) on the BTCC calendar, but it’s very challenging and demanding.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Piers Phillips, SEAT Sport Race Engineer: “We will arrive at Knockhill full of confidence, because the Leon was very good there last year and had it not been for the incidents that occurred we would have had a very successful weekend. I think Jason might hold the record for trying to negotiate the hairpin the fastest on three wheels, but that wasn’t really the aim last year! The mix of corners and undulating track should play into the hands of the SEAT Leon. The tighter corners and rapid changes of direction through SEAT Curves and through the chicane should play to the strengths of the Leon’s exceptional chassis. Traction is a very important factor at Knockhill, as getting out and away from the hairpin and up the hill to the start line is vital to give yourself a chance to overtake into SEAT Curves. Your car must also be good under braking and able to ride the kerbs, which are vital to a good lap time. Jason’s success ballast will be a frustration in the early part of the meeting with the need to accelerate and decelerate all that extra weight around the circuit. On a faster track like Thruxton it is bad enough, but at least you have some momentum to help carry you along. At Knockhill it is all start and stop and that will hurt us big time.”

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato: “I love racing at Knockhill. You have to be very aggressive over the kerbs, it’s a very undulating circuit and there is a lot of heavy braking from very high speed into sharp corners – all of which suits the Leon very well. The only part of the circuit that really doesn’t suit our car is the long uphill drag up from the hairpin and over the start-finish line. There is every chance it could rain, and if it’s wet I think we will be very strong – like we have been at Knockhill before. As always, qualifying will be very important. Regardless of if it’s wet or dry, we have to qualify near the front of the grid, because overtaking is very difficult at Knockhill.”

Darren Turner: “I’m really looking forward to going back to Knockhill, as it’s one of only four circuits I raced on in the BTCC last year. Before that, I hadn’t been to Knockhill for ten years, yet I was really pleased with my performance throughout the race weekend. Qualifying was difficult, because the session started wet and then began to dry, and I was pleased to qualify second behind Jason. Then I had three really good races, and although I never got to keep my two second place finishes, the entire race weekend proved how competitive we are as a team up at Knockhill. The aim will be pretty much the same this year; qualify on the front row and get some podium results – although this time, I aim to keep them.”

Scott Dennis, SEAT UK Motorsport Manager: “We head to Scotland knowing that the Leon is a competitive package at Knockhill whatever the weather conditions and as always it will be important that we get it right on Saturday during qualifying. But what’s more important is that we convert any competitive advantage we have into points on Sunday. We’ll be looking to score well at Knockhill and put the pressure on Fabrizio and Vauxhall for the remaining rounds in October, every point is going to be crucial. From here on in it’s going to be a tough fight between us and Vauxhall, and whilst the racing at Knockhill will be as exciting as ever I have a feeling it will simply play its part in what is going to be a dramatic end to the season.”