Plato takes first BTCC diesel win
Jason Plato became the first man to win a British Touring Car Championship race in a diesel-powered car as the SEAT driver triumphed in the opening race of the day at Donington Park
After trailing Tom Onslow-Cole for much of a race that saw a delayed start due to a glitch with the starting lights and two safety car periods, Plato nipped through as the Vauxhall driver slid wide at McLeans with four laps to go and went on to win by 1.309 seconds.
It was Plato's first win since the championship visited Donington last year and the 39th of his career, lifting him to within 14 points of the championship lead in the process.
Polesitter Onslow-Cole was beaten to the first corner by Colin Turkington, but the Team RAC driver was handed a drive-through penalty for blatantly jumping the start, which was signalled by flag following the light failure.
Once the Ulsterman was out of the way and the field were released following a safety car period for a crash between John George and Rob Collard at the Old Hairpin, Onslow-Cole simply drove away from the pack.
His 2.5-second lead was swallowed up though when the safety car was deployed for a second time for another incident at the Old Hairpin.
Mat Jackson, who had done a wonderful job to bring his BMW Dealer UK car up from 14th on the grid, made contact with Tom Chilton on lap 10 while battling for fifth, resulting in both cars spinning into the gravel and some finger-pointing between the pair.
Upon the second restart Onslow-Cole lost his lead and dropped as low as fourth before re-passing Gordon Shedden's Team Halfords Honda late in the race to complete the podium.
Andew Jordan made a fantastic late move to claim fifth place at the final corner, winning the independents' category in the process in his Eurotech-John Guest Honda. He passed Steven Kane, who been racing with Stephen Jelley for the position on the last lap before the latter ended up in the gravel at the Old Hairpin.
Behind Kane, Adam Jones and Fabrizio Giovanardi followed with the Italian - who went off-track on lap two trying to avoid a near-collision between Plato, Shedden and Darren Turner - keeping his seven-point championship lead, albeit over Neal now rather than Jackson.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Jason Plato SEAT 25:08.830 2. Matt Neal Vauxhall + 1.309 3. Tom Onslow-Cole Vauxhall + 1.602 4. Gordon Shedden Honda + 3.354 5. Andrew Jordan Honda + 6.585 6. Steven Kane BMW + 6.858 7. Adam Jones SEAT + 7.083 8. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall + 7.390 9. Colin Turkington BMW + 7.912 10. Mike Jordan Honda + 8.805 11. Jason Hughes Honda + 9.055 12. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet + 10.688 13. Chris Stockton SEAT + 15.014 14. Martyn Bell Vauxhall + 16.179 15. Michael Doyle Honda + 20.876 16. Erkut Kizilirmak Vauxhall + 21.407 17. Stuart Oliver SEAT + 22.973 18. Alan Taylor Honda + 27.078 19. Darren Turner SEAT + 2 laps Retirements: Driver Car Laps Stephen Jelley BMW 17 Tom Chilton Honda 9 Mat Jackson BMW 9 Matt Allison Chevrolet 2 Rob Collard BMW 1 John George Honda 1
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