Jason Plato leaves Snetterton with 16 point advantage

Jason Plato was delighted to leave Snetterton with a 16 point lead in the championship, despite entering the weekend 10 points back.

Plato took a third, a fourth and a second in the three races around the 3-mile Norfolk circuit, while Gordon Shedden, who led the championship going in to the weekend, meaning the two-time champion now takes a 16 point lead in to the series’ annual visit north of the border to Knockhill.

“I’m really pleased,” said Plato. “In engineering terms that’s a delta of 26 points, we were 10 behind and we’re now 16 ahead, that’s a great weekend. Honda’s have imploded, that’s a shame isn’t it? Colin got himself up to 2nd place in the championship, we got the team’s award, it’s going well. Going very well.”

Going in to Knockhill, Plato knows that ball will be firmly in West Surrey Racing’s court at what should be a strong circuit for the rear-wheel-drive BMWs, focusing on being the “best of the rest” come the end of the weekend.

“The BMWs are going to win [at Knockhill], they’re going to win all three races,” stated Plato. “If they don’t they’ve underperformed – it’s a BMW circuit. We’ve just got to make sure we’re the best of the rest and I think we can achieve that. The most important thing is we know we’re probably not going to win all the races, but that doesn’t mean to say we’re not going to come third or fourth, as long as we’re ahead of the rest that’s all that matters. Looking at this weekend – weight corrected – I was quickest, quicker than Colin [Turkington, Team BMR team-mate who took wins in race one and two], and there’s no reason that won’t continue at Knockhill.”

Turkington stated after his wins that it was the most confident he had felt in the car all year, believing the work put in over the summer break has brought the car forward. While Plato agreed, he also believed that the break is also good for the drivers, allowing them to relax and get their heads back in the game for the second half of the year.

“Without a doubt we’ve learnt some things, but also when you have a great weekend you do feel comfy,” Plato said. “I’ve always found that in my career the summer break is a healthy thing because it allows you to just switch off, do some other stuff and come back refreshed and often you find another gear. If I think about my performance yesterday with the weight, that’s been true for me, so yeah Colin’s going to be a good fight to the end. All this talk about rear-wheel-drive, ‘take me a long time to adjust’, he was just putting a marker down to buy himself some time, he’s a world class driver, he’s a class act.”