BTCC Knockhill: Jason plato takes victory in his 500th race
Jason Plato took his first British Touring Car Championship victory of the season in his Team BMR Subaru in the opening race at Knockhill during his 500th race in the category
The two-time champion powered away from pole position into a strong lead, but that was wiped out by a late-race safety car to clear the car of an errant backmarker.
Plato held his nerve over the closing laps as the WSR BMW 125i M Sport car of Jack Goff pushed him hard, but the Subaru man made it to the line 0.5s clear for his 95th career win.
He said: "Before this weekend I wasn't getting caught up in that number but it is a nice thing to win.
"It makes you reflect on your career and it is great to be here after all those races and still winning after 500 events.
"The safety car was ironic because it was my team-mate Warren Scott who had gone off - I was hope they would clear it as soon as possible - but that is racing."
Goff battled from fourth place to unseat his team-mate Sam Tordoff before zooming up to the bootlid of the second placed Speedworks Toyota Avensis of Tom Ingram.
Goff made the pass for second with a lunge down the inside into the hairpin on lap 12. Tordoff dropped down the order late on as the 66kg of ballast had an effect on his car.
That allowed Colin Turkington's Subaru to make progress. He overtook Tordoff with three laps to go for fourth and then pounced on Ingram at the hairpin with a lap to go to grab the last spot on the podium.
Behind Tordoff in fourth was Andrew Jordan's Motorbase Ford Focus and series returnee Dave Newsham in the Power Maxed Chevrolet Cruze.
The factory Honda Civic Type Rs of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden were eighth and ninth, with Shedden taking the spot after a move into Clark's corner on the Toyota Avensis of Rob Austin on lap two.
RACE ONE RESULT
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 27 | 25m30.213s |
2 | Jack Goff | WSR | BMW | 27 | 0.503s |
3 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Subaru | 27 | 1.003s |
4 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 27 | 2.375s |
5 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 27 | 2.781s |
6 | Andrew Jordan | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 27 | 4.034s |
7 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 27 | 5.265s |
8 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 27 | 7.605s |
9 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 27 | 8.143s |
10 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 27 | 8.357s |
11 | Ash Sutton | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 27 | 9.206s |
12 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 27 | 10.160s |
13 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 27 | 11.295s |
14 | Martin Depper | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 27 | 11.346s |
15 | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | 27 | 11.495s |
16 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Toyota | 27 | 12.307s |
17 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 27 | 12.581s |
18 | Josh Cook | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 27 | 13.652s |
19 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Toyota | 27 | 14.484s |
20 | Hunter Abbott | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 27 | 14.863s |
21 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 27 | 15.114s |
22 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 27 | 15.991s |
23 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 27 | 16.692s |
24 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Toyota | 27 | 18.868s |
25 | Stewart Lines | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | 27 | 19.479s |
26 | Mark Howard | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 27 | 21.057s |
27 | Alex Martin | Team Parker Racing | Ford | 26 | 1 Lap |
- | Jeff Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 19 | Retirement |
- | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Subaru | 17 | Retirement |
- | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 13 | Not classified |
- | Matt Simpson | Speedworks Motorsport | Honda | 9 | Retirement |
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