Jason Plato: “It’s nice to be in the scrap for pole”

Jason Plato declared himself happy to be “in the scrap for pole” after securing second on the grid for the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Thruxton.

The Power Maxed Racing driver had set the pace in the second free practice session of the weekend at the wheel of his Vauxhall Astra and maintained that performance into qualifying, where he was the first person to dip below the 1:16s mark this weekend.

Whilst his best time would ultimately be beaten by the Honda of Sam Tordoff, second for the former champion matched his performance at Brands Hatch during the opening meeting of the campaign, with Plato now hopeful of a strong showing on race day.

“I enjoyed that,” he said. “We’ve chipped away at things this year to find the sweet spot with the car, and whilst we aren’t there yet, we are getting close. We made good progress today and I was up on my final lap going into Church and I thought ‘Do I accept this or try for more?’ I tried for more and whilst I made the exit, I tightened up a bit because I was worried about running out of space and got a slide on.

“I could see the delta was dropping away on the run up the final corner and into the Chicane I thought I’d send it to try and make up time and I sent it a bit too much. That cost me pole but it’s nice to be in the scrap and we have some genuine pace to challenge for wins tomorrow. I think it’s going to be great fun; I can’t wait…”