No punishment for Plato over Oulton outburst

TOCA have confirmed that Jason Plato will not be punished for his criticism of the series at Round 11 at Oulton Park, after the reigning champion apologised for his candour.

It had been reported that the Silverline Chevrolet driver was to be sent to the stewards to potentially receive sanctioning for his comments, but after an apology to the championship officials, the matter has been dropped.

Jason Plato, along with many drivers and team managers also competing in cars built to Super 2000 regulations, have maintained since the start of the season that the normally aspirated cars have been disadvantaged in comparison to their new turbocharged rivals, with performance equalisation promised by the series organisers for the 2011-2012 seasons.

However the latest measures of a weight break at Oulton Park, coupled with a new boost reduction for the turbo cars at Croft saw the closest weekend yet at the front between the top normally aspirated S2000 and Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) turbo-powered entries.

West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard in the S2000-specification BMW 320si was on the podium in all three races, whilst Jason Plato took the first normally aspirated pole position of the season, though Matt Neal’s 45kg success ballast laden Honda won the first two races, with Mat Jackson winning race three in the turbo-powered Ford Focus ST.