Jason Plato has won the first BTCC race of the day at Knockhill after a perfect drive from pole.
The Adrian Flux Subaru driver had said in interviews after setting pole on Saturday, that he wasn’t expecting to have the pace in the dry but it was like the Jason Plato of past seasons as he lead the entire race from lights to flag.
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Jason Plato has won Round 19 of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after producing a flawless drive at Knockhill.
“We found something in qualifying yesterday which we thought about after scratching our heads and it looked like we had a bit of a differential issue. We had a complete change of that unit last night and the car’s a different machine now. We think we’ve found the gremlin.” Said Plato after the race, “I should have the advantage in the second race as the soft tyre is better in a few key areas. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get that point for switching spots for Ash [Sutton], we tried!”
Plato did in fact, try to deliberately lose the lead at one point to give his team mate Ash Sutton a point for leading a lap but they appeared to give it up before Sutton could take the extra point and Sutton Remained in second.
“Jason [Plato] wanted the win and thoroughly deserved it but I needed the extra point – we swapped and it was a great little bit of teamwork, it was just a pity it didn’t quite work out. He’s had his difficulties with his car this year and my side of the garage has been fine, but it’s nice to come and get a one-two and to lock out the front row in qualifying too – great for Adrian Flux Subaru Racing, phenomenal really. The soft tyre was an advantage but the weight with the ballast does even it out a bit. It’ll be a level playing field again in race two when Jason has the softs and the added weight.” said Sutton afterwards
Turkington and Collard followed in third and fourth in their BMW 1 series seemingly unable to do anything about the two Levorgs ahead of them. Turkington explained how the Subarus had pulled away;
“I was a bit quicker at the beginning of the race – the BMW switched on really fast. I got the fastest lap and there was a phase where I started to catch Ash (Sutton) but in the mid part of the race I was dropping a couple of tenths, even driving to the limit of my 1 Series. It was always the aim to come here and score points, and with the ballast coming out you’ve got to think we’ll have a good chance in race two. The two guys ahead will race, which is a good thing. Jason’s on the softs so he may tear into the distance but we’ll focus on ourselves. If we can hunt in packs, we should be looking good.”
Behind the top four there was a battle for fifth between James Cole and Tom Ingram. Ingram had initially got ahead and Cole made several passing attempts including drawing alongside on lap nine but eventually passed him to take fifth on the twelfth lap.
Senna Proctor had a very strong race to seventh place taking best rookie honours. He held off a challenge from Gordon Shedden early on, a driver who knows all the best passing places at Knockhill! His seventh was his best result in his short BTCC career so far.
Adam Morgan came in next in his Cicely Motorsport Mercedes ahead of Matt Neal who had passed his ballast laden team mate Shedden and Dave Newsham’s BTC Norlin Chevrolet on the way to ninth. Newsham completed the top ten ahead of Shedden who stopped the slide down the field once he had fallen to eleventh. Cook, Jordan, Goff and Taylor-Smith completed the points scorers.
The only major off track incident was when contact between Rob Austin and Brett Smith sent smith into the gravel. The contact came as both tried to avoid Rory Butchers wayward Ford Focus which had run wide coming down the hill..
2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 19 – Knockhill
1 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing 24 laps
2 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.216s
3 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.902s
4 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +1.580s
5 James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +11.188s
6 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +16.492s
7 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +21.946s
8 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +28.348s
9 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +29.167s
10 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +29.991s
11 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +33.318s
12 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +33.606s
13 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +33.693s
14 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +35.046s
15 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +35.497s
16 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +35.963s
17 Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +37.352s
18 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +41.054s
19 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +45.002s
20 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +45.206s
21 Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +45.409s
22 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +46.865s
23 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +48.125s
24 Michael EPPS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +49.114s
25 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +1.915s
26 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +51.138s
27 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +53.066s
28 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +56.011s
29 Will BURNS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +1 lap
30 Brett SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1 lap
DNF Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +24 laps
DNF Stewart LINES (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +24 laps By Marc Waller
