Jason Plato unable to get into a rhythm during Donington Park qualifying

Jason Plato was disappointed to miss out on pole but not surprised to see his team-mate Colin Turkington take pole position at Donington Park.

The Team BMR driver had dominated the opening practice sessions of the weekend but was unable to beat Turkington or Honda’s Gordon Shedden as he struggled to find clear air and get a complete lap together.

“I just couldn’t get a rhythm every time,” said Plato. “I had to keep bailing out. You have to go ‘okay, right, stop’, let them get away. Then you’re off line and you’re picking up dust. We had one last stab of it where we put fronts on and that doesn’t normally produce a balance and it didn’t. I was up on the lap and I made a mistake. I was the best part of two tenths up going in to Coppice but I thought I can’t go steady and I just bit off a bit too much. A case of lots of purple sectors and none of them all together, its a shame.”

Although Turkington had spent both practice sessions around half a second off Plato’s best, Plato was not surprised to see the reigning champion put in the lap time he did, stating he was more shocked at the pace of the Hondas.

“I’m not surprised with Colin’s time,” continued Plato. “You just have have to look at him paw all over my data, he’s a proper lad, he’s a world class driver. I’m surprised at Gordon actually, Gordon’s the pace I’m concerned about because he’s actually got quite a bit of weight on and he’s gained four tenths. He’s done a very good job to get there.”

With Plato running no ballast at all compared to the other drivers at the top of the field, the two-time champion is confident he can make it to the top step of the podium come Sunday afternoon.

“We’ll have to wait and see, I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with the lap times for the race two grid, because that’s quite important. I’m not here to think about coming third. My point is to win some races tomorrow.”