Points on the board the most important thing for Jason Plato

Race one winner Jason Plato said getting points on the board was the most important thing at Donington Park, rather than beating champion team-mate Colin Turkington.

Team BMR’s Plato took the first non-reverse grid win for Warren Scott’s fledgling outfit, after fighting forward from third to first on the opening lap in his Volkswagen CC.

He passed Turkington into the final chicane after passing Gordon Shedden off the start, before establishing a comfortable lead and taking his first win of the season.

Asked if the pass on Turkington was the most satisfying moment, Plato told TouringCarTimes: “No, that’s the press trying to find an angle on it. A win’s a win. I knew I had the car to do the job and I didn’t produce the goods yesterday, so I needed to make amends today.

“The most important thing was to get some points on the board, and that’s what we did.”

Reflecting on Team BMR’s first win on outright pace, Plato added: “That’s nice for all the team, but even if Colin had won that race we’d all be super-pleased because Warren has dug deep to assemble the new people we’ve got.

“He’s put a massive amount behind this to make it happen and this is the result of bringing all that experience and technical know-how together. I’m really pleased to be a part of that.”

Plato will start fourth for the second race, which gets underway in around an hour and a half’s time.

He said: “I’m a bit frustrated at that. On my fastest lap I had to get on the brakes early and be on the throttle late at the Craners because of the marshal on the track, and that cost me three tenths. That would have been fastest lap.

“To be honest I was also mindful of what happened at Brands Hatch, so I was thinking ‘look after the tyres, look after the tyres’.”