Jason Plato praises Team BMR mechanics for rescuing weekend

Jason Plato was full of praise for his Team BMR mechanics, stating that if it wasn’t for their swift work in race one, his weekend would not have ended in victory.

Plato won the final race of the day but it was completely different story in the opening encounter, having to pit at the end of the first lap with a broken right-rear suspension. After some frantic work in the Rockingham pitlane, Plato returned to the track a lap and a half later and was able to put in a laptime good enough for twelfth on the grid for race two.

Had he lost one more lap while in the pits Plato would have had to start race two from the back having not completed enough of race one to qualify on the race two grid.

“It was important to rescue the weekend,” Plato told TouringCarTimes. “I have to say the guys working on my car, to get the suspension changed and repaired in one and a half laps was stellar. That’s rescued the weekend, without them that would’ve been it.”

Some contact with another driver in race two hindered Plato’s progress through the field, but was able to salvage seventh place, seeing him take fourth on the grid for the final race. A thrilling battle with Tom Ingram ended the weekend on a high, with Plato taking his first win since Oulton Park.

“We showed in race two that we had the pace,” said Plato. “We were just unlucky we just got clouted in race one and there’s nothing you can do about that. I’m trying to stay out of everyone’s mess but that’s just what happens, that’s what 75kgs does to you, it makes it very difficult to be near the front in qualifying. Weight corrected we were on pole by a chunk but you’ve got to fight. It would’ve been very easy to put our tail down and not get through this weekend but we have. We’re out the other side, we’ve done well and we’ve got it back.”

Plato’s race-long battle with Tom Ingram provided not only one of the best on-track duels of the weekend, but of the entire season. The smiles on both drivers faces in parc ferme showed just how much they enjoyed it, with Ingram’s maiden podium proving very popular with both the fans and the drivers.

“It was amazing,” said Plato of his battle with Ingram. “It was great. I was loving every minute and I know he was. We had a little chat after that race, he knew that in that first maneuver he took my right hand mirror off and he used that to good effect. So I was a bit nervous on shutting the door, and when I look back on the tapes I probably could have, but I didn’t want to close the door as I couldn’t see him properly. I’m not going to go soft because I want to win every race but he drove brilliantly, he would’ve been a worthy winner in that race.”