Jason Plato laments “hugely frustrating” weekend

Double BTCC champion Jason Plato was left to lament a “hugely frustrating” weekend at Rockingham, which saw the Triple Eight squad struggle to get a handle on their recalcitrant MG6.

Plato and team-mate Sam Tordoff locked out the front row in Saturday’s dry qualifying, but the mixed conditions which greeted the team on Sunday didn’t play to their strengths.

The team also had issues on Saturday, with Plato missing much of the running in second free practice, and the Triple Eight squad having to spend five hours changing the car’s clutch in the evening.

Plato, who eventually took a fifth, sixth and third in the races, said: “It was hugely frustrating, particularly after we had been so strong in qualifying. I was delighted with the pole lap after we had worked through some problems in free practice and our tails were up.

“We consulted every single weather agency possible to work out what would happen on Sunday – we even took advice from the military. But the strong winds on race day meant it was impossible to be totally certain what would happen.

“We had a dry set-up for the opening race, when it rained just before the start. We were able to make a few adjustments to make the car more suitable for the wet, but it wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t able to get any heat into the front tyres and that meant I was struggling for grip.

“We had a partially wet set-up for race two, when it dried and we were once again on the back foot. Charging to third in race three was the highlight of the weekend and I had a fantastic fight with Colin Turkington throughout the race. That was a highlight of a tough weekend.”

Plato said that the intermediate conditions highlighted some of the areas where the car needs improvement.

He said: “We know our car works in the dry and in the fully wet, but the halfway conditions we had at Rockingham really hurt us. It is annoying because this was a golden chance for us to bag some big points but we were scuppered.

“We were chasing the set-up all day and, whatever we did, we were just a little bit off. We had things go wrong that shouldn’t have and we need to cure that. This is such a competitive championship that you simply can’t afford to let chances like that pass by.”