Plato says Arena Fords unbeatable

Arena Ford driver Tom Chilton topped the recent official test at the Norfolk circuit by half a second while his team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole is only 22 points off the championship lead.

With the long straights of Snetterton favouring the turbocharged LPG engine of the Fords over the normally-aspirated engines used by most of the field, Plato is aiming simply to be 'best of the rest.'

"If they [Arena] don't destroy the opposition this weekend then they need to look very hard at themselves, their drivers and their engineers. My target is to be the first non-gas car," he said.

Plato, the 2001 BTCC title-winner, lies second in the championship, eight points behind leader Matt Neal.

But with Honda missing the recent test and Plato going fourth quickest, he has a great opportunity to slash the gap to his long-time rival.

He believes that the work done by the RML squad on his Chevrolet at the test will help him close the gap to the pace-setters.

"So far this season we've had a problem that when you attack a lap, the car gets very nervous and there's a lot of oversteer," he said. "We've needed to understand why this happens and get the car working better on the Dunlop tyres.

"RML are pretty sure they've got to the bottom of it now, and the result was that the car felt better than it has at any time I've driven it before. We've a fair bit to be optimistic about for the rest of the year."