Jason Plato says new qualifying regs are doing what they should do

Jason Plato is the first driver to benefit from the new qualifying format for 2015, taking pole position for race two, courtesy of setting the fastest lap in race one in his Team BMR Volkwagen CC, and believes the new format is doing what the series organisers hoped it would do and is mixing things up.

Plato will line-up on pole position with West Surrey Racing’s Andy Priaulx alongside, followed by Honda’s Gordon Shedden and the other West Surrey Racing BMW of Rob Collard on row two.

“It’s tricky because there’s lots of theories on it, and I think the theories will change, as from here on in, whoever’s leading the championship at Donington will be in a very different scenario to here, so then it’s going to be difficult to put the thing on pole with 75kg on, so I think the regulations will do exactly what it’s supposed to do and mix it up,” said Plato to TouringCarTimes.

Andy Priaulx opted to run the soft tyre for race one, which helped the BMW driver secure second on the grid for race two with an early quick lap, even though the soft tyre rapidly fell off during the race which saw him drop from the lead to ninth by the chequered flag.

On whether Plato feels running the soft tyre in race one is a worthwhile strategy that BMR could have used, the two-time champion remarked:
“It depends how your car carries the soft tyre. It wasn’t the right choice for us as it’s not right for the soft tyre until it starts to warm up, but I can see why people have done that. I don’t think at this stage there is a definitive correct way to do it. Some circuits are kind on the soft tyre, some aren’t.

“If we were allowed to decide when to run the soft tyre at any moment, then it becomes strategic, but at the moment you almost have to guess as we have to nominate the tyre before qualifying, so this is a strategic game anyway, so that throws things into the mix.”