Jason Plato delighted with Silverstone pole

Jason Plato declared himself delighted after securing his first BTCC pole since 2017 at Silverstone.

The Power Maxed Racing driver was the man to beat from the opening session of the weekend at the Northamptonshire circuit having set the pace across free practice.

Plato then stormed to pole position in a tightly-fought qualifying session after edging Chris Smiley, Matt Neal and Tom Ingram out of top spot on the grid having smashed the previous qualifying lap record.

“I’m really pleased for everyone,” he said. “We’ve kept chipping away all year and I’ve made a couple of mistakes – like parking errors – that have cost us a couple of good results.

“We knew it was going to come, and we just had to keep motivated and keep chipping away at it. It’s great to have now got the pole and a nice feeling.”

Plato was quick to praise the PMR team for the work that has gone in over the course of the season so far, and said pole was a sign that the partnership is going from strength to strength.

“It means a lot because I’d never been uncompetitive during my career, and then I’ve had two uncompetitive years – and it hurt,” he said. “I knew I hadn’t forgotten how to drive a car, and I just needed the right equipment and to be able to work with a team to develop it.

“This Astra is a great little car and it’s nice to be back with Vauxhall – where I won my first title. We’ve got a lot of that team here from back in 2001, and it’s working nicely.”