Jason Plato: “I’d have more points if others played the game”

Jason Plato was ruing his bad luck earlier in the year as the BTCC title fight prepares for one final showdown at Brands Hatch.

The Team BMR driver finished sixth in race two, while championship rival Gordon Shedden failed to score, cutting the gap at the top of the standings to just 12 points with one race remaining.

Despite almost halving the lead since the start of the day, Plato was left regretting his punctures and incidents earlier in the season, believing had he not had those non-scores the title would already be sealed in his favour.

“Happy to take points out of Gordon’s lead,” Plato told TouringCarTimes. “I sit here ruing the puncture here at the beginning of the year, we’d be home and dry now, it’d be in the bag. I’m sat here ruing the puncture at Silverstone, I’m sat here ruing the whack at Knockhill. We’ve had terrible luck which has cost us vital points. I’d have more points, wouldn’t I if other people were playing the f***ing game, but they’re not.”

Plato also alluded to an apparent lack of team play from one of his team-mates, suggesting they were more concerned about earning their own trophies than helping the team.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had the rub of the luck,” Plato said. “I haven’t had any good luck I’ve just been doing my job. We’ve had no fortune, we’ve just been doing our job, in fact actually we’ve had things going against us, like the other drivers in the team f***ing driving like muppets. When I come second, I throw the f***ing trophies in the bin, not interested, it matters something to some people.”

In order to win the title, Plato now needs to finish fourth or better, while Shedden will need to come from the back to work his way into the points after falling back with technical issues at the end of the race. With the reverse grid draw, Plato will start race three alongside Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal, which Plato knows could provide a spanner in the works for his campaign.

“The momentum’s going with me,” admitted Plato. “Will it be enough? I dunno, I can only do what we can do, start P2 on the grid, Matt’s going to be a pain in the arse, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”