Jason Plato achieved his aim of extending his lead at the top of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Rockingham Motor Speedway by scoring a 3rd, a 5th and a 1st race finish today. Having won half of the races this season, Jason doubled his points advantage at the Northamptonshire circuit, as he arrived with a nine point lead and is now 18 points ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Darren Turner made it a double SEAT Sport UK celebration at the end of the day by finishing the third and final race in 3rd place. Having been the fastest man around the 1.94 mile International Super Sports Car Circuit the previous day – setting the fastest time in both free practice sessions and in qualifying – Darren suffered cruel luck as the cars formed up on the grid for the first race. An electrical problem saw his SEAT Leon stall, and unable to restart the engine he was pushed out of the way and watched the race from the paddock. He then produced the drive of the day to come from 25th on the grid to finish 6th, before scoring a well deserved podium in race three.

ROUND 4

Darren picked up an electrical problem on the formation lap and was pushed off his pole position slot by the marshals and then watched the race from the SEAT Sport UK hospitality unit. Jason made a fantastic start from 3rd on the grid to follow Fabrizio Giovanardi in 2nd place for 12 laps. But chaos erupted at the final chicane, when oil spilt by Fiona Leggate’s MG ZS saw all the leading cars slide onto the grass and through the gravel. They all managed to continue, but Jason was warned that there was oil at Turn 1, so he eased off slightly. The loss of momentum was enough for Tom Chilton to overtake going into the tight Turn 2, and with 45kgs of success ballast on board his SEAT Leon, Jason was unable to get the position back.

ROUND 5

In the drive of the day, Darren came from 25th on the grid to finish 6th in an exciting second race, one place behind Jason. Darren also set the fastest lap of the race on lap seven, a 1:25.648 (81.91mph), as only 12 of the 21 starters finished the race.

The safety car was deployed at the end of lap one, after Matt Neal (Honda Civic) and Colin Turkington (BMW 320si) collided. As the dust settled, Darren was already up to 9th, while Jason, who’s SEAT Leon had started 3rd, but had been squeezed and pushed on the opening corners as the long run down to Turn 2 played into the hands of the faster cars, was 4th.

The race restarted on lap six and Giovanardi was gradually able to pull away as a titanic battle for 2nd place developed between Tom Onslow-Cole (BMW 320si), Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra), Mat Jackson (BMW 320si), Jason and Darren.

ROUND 6

With the top 10 from the previous race randomly selected to start the third and final race at Rockingham in reverse order, Jason and Darren from 6th and 5th places on the grid respectively.

Jason made a fantastic start and raced down to Turn 2 in 4th place. Keeping to the inside line, he came out of the sharp hairpin left hander in the lead as the three drivers ahead - John George (Honda Integra), Jason Hughes (MG ZS) and Dave Pinkney (Alfa Romeo 156) – all tangled with each other. Despite a safety car period that bunched the cars up, Jason never lost his lead and set the fastest lap on the race, a 1:25.393 (82.15mph) to won.

Darren made a poor start and was caught by Jason at the initial get-away, deranging his suspension and steering, which compromised his pace. He nevertheless drove well to hold off the challenges of Onslow-Cole and then Chilton to finish 3rd.

Between the SEAT Sport UK duo finished the 2006 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Champion, Mat Jackson.

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato (3rd/5th/1st): “We did a great job to qualify third with maximum ballast and in the first race we were in a safe second position before there was oil on the track and we all went off without warning. That made us very cautious that there might be oil at Turn 1 – there wasn’t, but if you hit the wall in Turn 1 in the first race, that’s your race day over. We elected to be safe and it cost us second place; but third wasn’t bad. The second race just didn’t work for us. I had to be careful that I didn’t get tangled up in a couple of accidents and I lost a couple of places because of it. Then I just couldn’t make any headway. In clean air we are very quick, but when we’re behind a BMW it’s impossible to overtake because they are so quick in a straight line. I made a great start and got into the lead in race three, and once we’re in clean air we can do great lap times. The problem is that if we’re not in the lead we can’t overtake because at the end of the straight we’ve lost a load of distance. It’s fantastic for the team to finish the day with a win and a third place and all things considered, as we didn’t think we’d be strong at Rockingham, to come away having doubled the lead in the Drivers’ standings is more than we could have asked for.”

Darren Turner (DNF/6th/3rd): “Race day has been a bit frustrating, because yesterday was so good and I was so happy to qualify on pole. But to have an electrical problem before the first race and not be able to use that pole position was one of the lowest feelings I’ve had in racing. It was nice to be able to race through the field, from twenty-fifth to sixth, in race two, which put me in a good position for the start of the third and final race. The start of race three was just a normal start by me, as in not very good! I dropped some places straight away and had some contact with Jason as he came down from the top of bank, which knocked the steering and geometry out. From then on the car wasn’t great to drive and I was just pleased to hang on to third. I’ve had a third and a sixth today which isn’t anything fantastic, but I’ll just have to hope that when we get to Thruxton we’ll be in good shape, be competitive and score some good results.”