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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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Championship positions (after 3 or 30 races)
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mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk Plato celebrates late BTCC deal with victory at Brands Hatch Just four days after signing a deal to race at the opening round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch, Jason Plato scored a sensational victory in the third and final race of the day – in a RML-prepared Chevrolet Lacetti he’d never driven in anger before the race weekend had started. It was Plato’s 47th BTCC race win of his career and the first for Chevrolet since 1975. The former Champion was left without a drive in this year’s series following the withdrawal of the SEAT Sport UK team at the end of 2008. The 41-year old driver concluded a last-minute deal with preparation specialists RML to contest the opening rounds at Brands Hatch in one of the Chevrolet Lacettis that contested the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship. As a result the team arrived at Brands Hatch with a mountain to climb having missed all of the pre-season testing programme and with a car that had never raced on the Dunlop control tyres that are used in the BTCC. Plato qualified the Tesco 99 Octane//In n Out sponsored car in ninth place for the first of the day’s three BTCC races, and quickly maximised his proven race craft to battle his way up to sixth place by the chequered flag. The second race, however, did go quite so smoothly. This time, despite a promising start, the Chevrolet was at the receiving end of some predictable midfield argy-bargy and Plato was shuffled down to finish tenth. However, proving what goes round comes round, Jason’s poor luck on-track was countered off-track when the number 10 was drawn from the post race lottery giving Plato pole position for the day’s final ‘reverse grid’ race. Making the most of his starting position, Plato led off the line but then, at the start of lap two, the Chevrolet was struck from behind by the following BMW of Jonathan Adam. Although Plato was knocked sideways at Paddock Hill Bend, he somehow rescued the huge slide and rejoin in second place behind the BMW but with the chasing pack in his mirrors. Despite strong challenges from several rivals, Plato fended off all-comers to cross the line in a hard earned second place. A remarkable achievement for a driver and team that, as recently as Wednesday, was planning to spend the weekend at home! A few hours later, race officials declared that Adam’s overtaking manoeuvre was unfair and gave him a four second penalty – sufficient to drop him down to second and promote Plato to first. Plato said: “I’ve got to give a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone at RML and to all my personal sponsors – without them this wouldn’t have been possible. “A week ago I didn’t have a drive; today I was back in the cut and thrust of the BTCC doing what I enjoy and to finish the weekend with a win is absolutely fantastic. It’s been a massive uphill struggle – Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’re still paying the price for putting this deal together so late and thus missing all the pre-season testing but we’ve been changing the set-up on the car all weekend and finally made some big steps forward. “As to the future, we’d love to be back for more and there’s a massive desire to be in this fantastic championship. But, to make that happen, need to find commercial sponsors.” HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship Brands Hatch 4/5 April Race 1 (27 laps)
Race 2 (24 laps)
Race 3 (25 laps)
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