The questions surrounding Plato Racing/CPRL after administration

Those low-slung Mercedes A35 Saloons, clad in their new all-black livery, looked suspiciously like DTM weaponry from around 15 years ago at last weekend’s British Touring Car Championship round at Donington Park.

Rather than having ‘Rowbottom’ and ‘Morgan’ stencilled into the rear windows, you wouldn’t have been surprised to see ‘Spengler’ and ‘Vietoris’ (whatever happened to him?). But, whichever way you look at it, the saga around Plato Racing being placed into administration and its metamorphosis into CPRL has been an unwelcome episode for the series.

Teams run into problems and change hands all the time in motorsport, but usually this kind of thing happens during the off-season - not right at the beginning of a hectic run-in to the end of the campaign.

The ousting of Jason Plato – for that is what it certainly is – from the team he founded has created the headlines. The man has often described himself as ‘a Marmitey character’, in the sense that you love him or hate him, and that’s just fine with him.

But he is hugely popular with the series’ fanbase. “The warmth shown to me by fellow competitors, long-standing friends, sponsors, the media and fans across motorsport and beyond over recent days has been overwhelming and is truly and deeply valued,” Plato posted on social media to tie in with BTCC kickoff at Donington last Sunday. “To have built Plato Racing and contributed to the BTCC for more than 25 years remains an important chapter in my life – and that chapter is not over yet.

“Because of the manner of my enforced departure and the impact it has had on both my aspirations and my mental health, I will be making no further public comments on these matters for the time being.” 

Plato Racing was a new entry for BTCC 2026

Photo by: Plato Racing Team RML

The question is: will Plato take this lying down? The firm belief of this writer, who has known him for 36 years, is that we certainly haven’t heard the end of this.

The other question, sagely put by a racing buddy with plenty of experience of the BTCC in a post-weekend chat, is whether the recent success of Plato Racing/CPRL – wins and podiums flooding in for Adam Morgan and Dan Rowbottom – is because of Jason Plato or despite him.

But to discuss this would mean asking people who are not at liberty to talk while the team is in administration – and therefore up for sale. What was clear is that racing at Donington Park – and success for Morgan, of course – was a welcome distraction for the employees at the team. Title sponsor Cataclean has effectively underwritten the remainder of the season while the tangled business affairs are sorted out.

“We all have a job to do, whether that is number one mechanic, engineer, tyre man, truckie, driver. We all just have to come here and get on with what we have to do best, and just try and move past all the noise" Adam Morgan

During this ‘interim’ period, CPRL appears to be operating without a team principal per se. But, barring the absent Plato, all seemed present and correct at Donington. Former Alliance Racing crew chief Dave Kelly had been sharing team manager duties with ‘JP’ anyway; technical chief Paul Ridgway was engineering Rowbottom as usual; the amiable Tom Hunt still on board looking after Morgan.

“It’s very much business as usual,” reported a spokesman for CPRL. “From an engineering perspective, they’re moving forward and keeping that momentum. All the guys are around for the rest of the season.”

“We all have a job to do, whether that is number one mechanic, engineer, tyre man, truckie, driver,” reflected Morgan. “We all just have to come here and get on with what we have to do best, and just try and move past all the noise.  

“If we can do our best just to get past it and keep focusing on performance, that’s all we can do. It has been tough. I hope Jason’s OK, but from my side I have no say in it, I have no control over it, I am a paying customer and I just want to drive the car. That’s all I want to do.”

Morgan and Plato celebrate after his win at Knockhill

Photo by: JEP

Morgan, as uncomplicated a bloke as you will get in motorsport, hit the nail on the head there. And you have to feel sorry for him that his success as a driver bringing budget to the team has been overshadowed by the off-track shenanigans.

Team-mate Rowbottom, backed by Cataclean right back to his Clio Cup days, was instrumental in the establishment of the team – Plato said that the idea took shape last summer when the two met for a beer, and Rowbottom talked him around from his initial reluctance to move into team ownership. Rowbottom, who initially described himself as a partner, was named as a director in May, although he has relinquished this in recent days.

“We’ve got a full team of professionals,” he stated. “They’ve worked really, really hard. Because the business is in administration, they’ve had to follow orders from the administrators. It’s not a conventional way of going racing at all. No one’s at liberty to make any decisions because the administrator runs the business. It’s been a hard week, but everyone’s taken on the challenge and we’re really proud.”

What is apparent is that at some point a schism has developed between Plato and the Cataclean camp, which includes Rowbottom. The stated losses of over £800,000 sound like a big figure but, let’s not forget, we’re talking about the establishment of an ambitious two-car team in the UK’s premier motorsport championship, using cars built and developed by touring car, sportscar and motor industry powerhouse RML.  

Some of those costs – fixed overheads, tools, computing and the race cars themselves – are amortised over a period of years. In short, it’s that old business cliché that you have to speculate to accumulate. What we can’t know at the moment is what has triggered that sudden – and premature? – move into administration.

Of course, the uninformed – or plain ignorant – on the social media channels were quick to jump in and condemn the BTCC for being too expensive. But is it? Of course, everyone wants their racing to be cheaper, but look at Power Maxed Racing: four brand-new Audi A3 Saloons built for 2026, one driver leading the Independents standings with an outright race win to his credit this season, one topping the Jack Sears Trophy, another banging in the odd podium. It’s a tight ship at PMR and it’s going just fine. But, bless him, team boss Adam Weaver isn’t a BTCC legend like Plato, so his squad rarely gets much attention unless it’s burning down. 

Rowbottom was instrumental in Plato Racing entering the grid

Photo by: JEP

Grids are decreasing’, howled the jackals. But that’s plainly not the case. From finishing last year with 22, we started the current season with 21, which has since crept up to 23. And who wants 30 on the grid when half a dozen of those are conking out all the time and causing safety cars

So what happens next? There’s plenty of speculation in the paddock, and clearly plenty of water to flow under the bridge yet.

“The decision has left me stunned and deeply unsettled,” said Plato in his Sunday statement. “To establish a brand-new BTCC team from nothing – not a nut, bolt or even a tie-wrap top its name – in under six months, and to secure pole position on our debut at Donington Park, was a significant achievement. Against considerable odds the team then delivered exceptionally strong results at Knockhill.

“In qualifying at Donington Park yesterday the team was once again top of the charts. These results represent a remarkable collective team effort and an achievement of which I am immensely proud.

The most important thing is that those two cars are on the grid for the rest of the season with a couple of decent drivers at the wheel. It may, however, be some time before we know what shape or form the team takes for 2027

“My backing for the team remains absolute, even though I am no longer involved.” Does that sound like someone who’s going to slink off with his tail between his legs? In itself, the act of releasing a statement suggests not.

As far as that performance of which Plato is rightly so proud is concerned, we’ll find out next time out at Croft how much of that has been due to Morgan and Rowbottom being on maximum TOCA Turbo Boost due to their relative lack of success earlier in the season. Morgan has now vaulted to fourth in the championship, with Rowbottom up to sixth, meaning they are down from 20 seconds per lap of TTB to 7s and 11s respectively.

“I’m still just riding a wave from Knockhill,” smiled Morgan at the end of the day at Donington. “That was a mega weekend, a turning point for us. And I think the fact that we’ve come here, which is a very different track to Knockhill, and we’ve still shown the same pace, I am hoping that we’ve now got the car to be able to perform wherever we go.  

“We have come here with maximum TTB, so we now have to switch our minds to Croft where we’re going to lose some of that, but I do have to say a massive thank you to everyone back at base, the guys at the workshop and in the garage. The car has been faultless all day.”

When it comes down to it, we’re all racing people at heart, and the most important thing is that those two cars are on the grid for the rest of the season with a couple of decent drivers at the wheel. It may, however, be some time before we know what shape or form the team takes for 2027. 

There are three race weekends left in BTCC 2026: Croft, Silverstone and Brands Hatch

Photo by: JEP