Jason Plato: “We’re back in the game now”

Jason Plato is optimistic that he has salvaged his weekend after driving a tactical race in round 19 at Knockhill, despite crossing the line to finish P23 and one lap down.

Despite qualifying P22 yesterday, the Team BMR driver elected to start from the back row in race one and ultimately dropped 30 seconds back on the opening tour to find sufficient track space, allowing him to set a competitive time.

Running the soft tyre, the Volkswagen CC racer battled to a best time of 52.675, good enough for P8 in race two. Now looking ahead to the remaining races, the double champion is upbeat that he can remain as the series leader come the end of the day.

Plato told BTCC Crazy: “To be honest I was a little bit soft in my approach of setting the lap time. I knew that I was going to do it on lap three and I had set a banker the previous lap so it was looking good to be even faster until I encountered Alex Martin.

“That was the plan though and we have now salvaged the weekend because we are in a position to score points in races one and two now. We knew the BMW’s were going to shoot off into the distance so we just need to get this weekend out of the way and look forward to Rockingham.

“I still have a ten point lead in the championship standings and I’m not too sure if we will actually lose the lead come the end of the day. Our damage limitation may be enough to remain in top spot.”

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:17.