Plato wins on 500th BTCC startposted in BTCC14 | 08 | 2016

JASON PLATO, STARTING his 500th race in the British Touring Car Championship, dominated the opening race at Knockhill today to claim his first win of the season with Subaru.

Starting from pole position, the double BTCC champ led from start to finish to claim the 95th win of his career. The Oxford driver also became the 11th man to win a race this season.

Plato fended off a late charge from Jack Goff’s BMW, who sealed the best result of his season so far, with the second Subaru Levorg of former Knockhill race instructor and double BTCC champ, Colin Turkington, third.

Sam Tordoff, who finished fifth in his BMW, heads into Race 2 leading the championship by six points from Matt Neal. The Honda driver finished eighth, one place ahead of team-mate, Auchterarder’s Gordon Shedden.

Inverness-based Dave Newsham, making a one-off return to the BTCC this weekend — as a stand-in for team regular Kelvin Fletcher, whose wife is having a baby — finished seventh in his Toyota.

Dalkeith 19-year-old Aiden Moffat, who finished on the podium 12 months ago at Knockhill, could only manage 13th in his Mercedes.

DRIVER QUOTES

RACE 1

P1 JASON PLATO:

“Before this weekend I wasn’t getting caught up in the fact this would be my 500th start in the BTCC, but actually it’s a really nice thing. It does make you cast your mind back to struggling in single-seaters, and trying to break through.

“It brings back the memories of going to see Sir Frank (Williams) and door-stepping him, and 500 races later we’re still winning.

“This current Subaru project is very personal to me. Whilst we all want to get the first win, did it really matter to me that I didn’t get it, and Colin (Turkington) did? No, not really.

“Of course it did when I was in the car, but as soon as I got out of the car I was just delighted for the team, because I’ve been involved with the Subaru project from the embryo stage.

“That goes back to 2012 when we were first thinking about it. So to be part of this, it was great to see the car winning, whether it was me, or Colin, or whoever. But that was when I was out of the car. When I was in the car, of course I was disappointed it wasn’t me who won.

“But our pace has been there. Our only Achilles heel really this season was at Snetterton where we didn’t get it in the groove — but there was a reason for that — but the balls just didn’t roll my way. Maybe we’ve turned that round now.

“I could have done without the Safety Car appearing with four laps to go, and the irony was it was my Subaru team-mate Warren Scott who caused it.

“I did get on the radio when I saw what had happened to say “get that ****** car out of the gravel quick. But it’s BTCC, and these things happen.

“And after everything that happened at Snetterton, it was good that we had a good, clean race. A few of us have been quite vocal about the driving standards. None of us begrudge anyone having a go, but we just need to clean the act up a bit , and maybe that’s the first signs of it.”

P2 JACK GOFF:

“It’s my best result of the season, and first time on the podium since Brands Hatch. I needed this result, to be honest. The team has given me a great car all season and it’s about time I repaid them with some good results.

“It was quite a difficult race. The tyres did start to go away towards the end of the race, and I didn’t want the Safety Car to come out because I was catching Jason (Plato), and was getting away from the guys behind. But in the end I was chuffed to finish P2.

“We knew my team-mate Sam (Tordoff) was heavier than I was, so we knew I should have the faster car over the race distance.  He still managed to finish P5, and now leads the championship, so we’re all happy.”

P3 COLIN TURKINGTON:

“A big bowl of Scottish porridge has done the trick today, I think. I really enjoyed that race. The car was obviously strong. I lost a place to Andy (Jordan) on the first lap, but I knew I just had to be patient and the race would come to me.

“My pace, once I got passed Andy was electric. Sometimes you just get the feeling that you can make the moves and make them stick. I had my eye on Jason (Plato), but I needed a few more laps.

“I’m really pleased for the whole Silverline Subaru team: it’s a other double podium, so a great start to the day.

“I made a great move on Tom (Ingram) at the Hairpin on the penultimate lap: you always try that little but harder when there’s a podium at stake. I knew it was going to be tricky, but I took my chance darting down the inside on the entry to the Hairpin and made it stick.”

Related: Shedden ready for "ballistic BTCC weekend"

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Jim McGill