Plato on fire at Oulton: BTCC Rnd 10/11/12

Jason Plato was on fire – quite literally at times – as MG fought back against rivals Honda in the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Oulton Park.

Third in the standings and 16 points down on leader Matt Neal going into the weekend, double champion Plato dominated the opening two races at Oulton, but his hopes of a rare triple success went up in smoke when his car caught fire in race three, which was won by Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Following a five-week break from competitive action – where a number of teams had taken the opportunity to carry out much needed test and development work – it was Plato’s Triple Eight-run MG6 GT that emerged as the car to beat as soon as the drivers hit the track in Cheshire.

In fact, by the end of the opening practice session of the weekend, Plato was already lapping under the qualifying lap record he had set twelve months earlier.

There was therefore little surprise when Plato put his car on pole position, although his margin over the chasing pack was something of an eye-opener; team-mate Sam Tordoff being the only person to lap within half a second of the pole-man.

And that was with Plato insisting he hadn’t produced the perfect lap…

There was little surprise therefore that it was Plato who dominated the opening race of the weekend, making a clean start when the lights went out and staying out front to the finish to pick up his third victory of the campaign. Capping a fine start to race day, young team-mate Tordoff followed up his front-row start by helping MG to a 1-2 finish as he saw off the early challenge of Honda’s Gordon Shedden to pick up his best result of the year to date.

Shedden himself would face a lonely run to the flag in third ahead of Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan and the eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington. Championship leader Neal could only manage sixth following a quiet race in his ballast-laden Civic.

Race two saw Plato take another victory – and another that saw him head the pack from start-to-finish.

Building a lead early on, Plato was able to control proceedings from the front, even though an early Safety Car period nullified the advantage he had built in the opening few laps. With team-mate Tordoff electing to run the softer compound Dunlop tyre, Plato edged away as his fellow MG man started to struggle with his tyres and by the time Shedden found a way through to second place, Plato was far enough up the road to ensure he wouldn’t be beaten.

“I’m trying everything I can to get that win – I’m throwing everything at it,” Shedden admitted post-race. “In truth, the MGs are just really quick today. I managed to get past Sam Tordoff early, which was nice, but we’re just losing out coming out of the hairpin and running up Clay Hill. I can’t really get much more out of the car…”

Shedden had earlier made an opportunistic move on Turkington’s fast-starting BMW to take third when the Safety Car was deployed, but the eBay man wasn’t going to miss out on a podium finish as he too battled ahead of Tordoff to secure a top three finish, with Neal, Jordan and Speedworks’ Dave Newsham rounding out the top six.

Tordoff however failed to score, banging wheels with the Ford of Mat Jackson on the penultimate lap and eventually dragging his damaged car across the line down in 21st place.

Plato’s double win had seen him move into the championship lead, but before he had chance to work his way through the field in the reverse grid final race, his MG headed for the pits after a handful of laps with flames coming from under the bonnet. Although marshals rushed to deal with the blaze, Plato was out on the spot.

Damage sustained in contact within the pack was believed to be the cause, but it meant a strong weekend for the former SEAT and Chevrolet man ended with him watching on from the pits – albeit having shown Honda that MG is firmly focused on championship success.

“I’ve been on fire – literally!” he admitted. “It has been a fantastic weekend. What happened in the final race was just one of those things. The most important thing for me is that we’ve got the performance and we’ve sent a shockwave down the pit lane.

“There’s a long way to go but we’ve put on a pretty dominant display here, which bodes well for Croft and beyond.”

Plato’s retirement ensured there would be a new winner in race three, with Rob Austin setting the early pace in his Audi A4, running at Oulton Park with a new engine after a change of supplier prior to the event.

Austin would lose the lead after a tap from Jeff Smith saw him lose momentum at the final corner, with Smith then leading until he spun off at Knickerbrook while heading a Pirtek Racing 1-2; team-mate Jordan having worked his way up to second spot.

It therefore left Jordan to take victory ahead of Turkington as the BMW man picked up his second podium of the day, while a frenetic battle for the final spot on the podium went the way of Adam Morgan as the Ciceley Racing man held off Neal’s Honda to secure a first top three finish.

“It’s absolutely amazing to get that result, not just for myself but for my team, my family and all the sponsors that support me,” the Toyota man said. “The race was pretty hectic – I didn’t get a second to catch my breath, but I just kept pushing and to get my first BTCC podium at my home circuit – it’s brilliant. The car felt really really good, and now I’ve got one, I’ll be pushing harder than ever to get up there again.”

Neal had to settle for fourth, but the points secured were still enough to allow him to move back into the championship lead. Austin meanwhile crossed the line fifth, ahead of team-mate Will Bratt, who broke into the top six for the first time this year.

The standings now see Neal heading the pack on 173 points, just four clear of Jordan who retains his healthy advantage in the Independents’ Trophy standings. While Plato slipped back to third following his race three retirement, the gap between him and Neal is now down to just seven points ahead of the final meeting before the summer break at Croft in two weeks.

In the Jack Sears Trophy for Super 2000-spec cars, Liam Griffin was first man home in the opening race in his Ford Focus before a post-race penalty for gaining an unfair advantage on the final lap handed victory to the Vauxhall Vectra of Lea Wood. Wood then doubled up in race two and looked well placed for a hat-trick in race three before collapsed suspension forced him out and allowed Griffin to take class honours.

Wood now tops the Jack Sears Trophy standings with five wins to his name, with Griffin second on four. James Kaye, third in the standings going into the weekend, missed the Oulton Park meeting due to business commitments.