Series leader Plato revels in Donington battle

Jason Plato came away from Donington Park still sitting atop the BTCC standings after contesting a classic battle he said was “what touring cars is all about”.

The Triple Eight MG driver took fourth with maximum ballast in race one, but the real entertainment came in the second, when he battled furiously with the Honda Racing Team cars of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.

Spectators were treated to dramatic battles being played out, inches apart, at speeds of up to 140mph on the Craner Curves.

Plato eventually came out on top to take second place, his best finish of the weekend.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, he said: “It was a really great race, I loved it. It’s a shame I got stuck behind Gordon because I think I could have won that race, but they are playing a game and doing their job.

“If the two works cars can’t win, they try and assist to get Andrew [Jordan] up the road. Gordon was just really defensive and blocked me up, and it took a while to work out how to get past him.

“That’s what touring cars is about – charging side-by-side with people down Craner Curves in fifth gear doing 140mph.

“I don’t want to do that overly often, because I think I had a witness mark in my pants! But I had more confidence with Matt than I did Gordon.”

Race three saw Plato finish eighth, one of a number of cars who was delayed when he had to avoid Dave Newsham’s spinning Toyota Avensis. But he was still happy with his weekend’s work.

He said: “I’m pleased with the day. We were a little bit unlucky in race three when I had to avoid that car spinning down the Craners, and I lost the pack then.

“But we are learning all the time, we have real pace in the car, and we are going to be quick around Thruxton. It is a great start.”