Plato: adrenaline is keeping me going

Jason Plato has said the adrenaline of racing has been the major factor in helping overcome the pain he’s feeling inside his SEAT Leon at Thruxton after he suffered burns to his hands, neck and face. A bandaged-up Plato bravely qualified fourth fastest for tomorrow’s race one starting grid behind the Vauxhalls of Tom Chilton, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Alain Menu.

He will go into tomorrow leading Giovanardi by nine points with a possible maximum of 51 still available from what will be the title-deciding final three rounds of 2007.

Plato told BTCC.net: “Without the adrenaline I couldn’t do it – I’ve been given some pain killers and creams but the adrenaline is the thing that’s really keeping me going and I actually feel a lot more comfortable with the car than I thought I would. That also keeps me confident in the car.

“The only time the pain has really started to hit home is maybe on an in-lap when you cool the pace on your way back to the pit lane.”

Plato’s SEAT team has made modifications to his car to also help make driving bearable, particularly on such a high-speed circuit as Thruxton which puts unique loads on the drivers and cars.

He added: “We’ve built up the width of the steering wheel which means my grip isn’t too tight – that just helps to relax the backs of my hands.

“We’ve also changed the gear-cut strategy which makes using the gear lever a bit more comfortable. Plus I’m using bigger gloves because of the bandages on my hands – the right one is the bigger of the two. I’ve got a nurse and we’ve been experimenting with different types of bandaging so they don’t slip loose when I’m pulling on my gloves.”

Plato believes he can take to the fight to his Vauxhall rivals tomorrow despite their apparent invincibility in qualifying.

“They won’t be able to put in lap times like that all day and I think our race pace is a lot better than our qualifying form. I think their drop-off in performance will be greater than ours over a race distance… I hope it will be!

“Who knows what game they’ll play. I’d imagine the fight will be with Fabrizio and Alain as they won’t make mistakes and Chilton will try and mess my race up a bit, but a lot of it will be down to whichever two drivers they nominate to score their Manufacturers’ points. My team-mate Darren (Turner) isn’t far off in seventh. It could be quite a battle.”

For the record, Vauxhall has nominated Giovanardi and Menu to score its Manufacturers’ championship points in tomorrow’s three races and SEAT both Plato and Turner after Tom Coronel – drafted into its third Leon – qualified in 12th on his first visit to Thruxton.