Jason Plato calls for swift action on 2015 equalisation measures

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Jason Plato has written off any chance of competing against West Surrey Racing and Colin Turkington for this year’s drivers’ title, following a weekend where Turkington increased his wins tally to eight victories against Plato’s three, and has called for confirmation from the series organisers what measures will be put in place next year to balance rear-wheel drive and front-wheel drive cars, while he evaluates his options for next season.

Plato took two podium finishes and a seventh place at Rockingham, a circuit which tradionally has been strong for the two-time champion, but with Turkington taking two wins and a fourth, the Northern Irishman has a healthy 55 point lead over Plato heading into the final two meetings of the year at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

Plato puts a positive note on the performance of the weekend of Triple Eight, whilst stating it’s not possible to compare their performance against the rear-wheel drive machinery of West Surrey Racing.

“The team have performed really well this weekend, we’re the best of the rest,” said Plato to TouringCarTimes. “We’ve won the teams’ award, we’re ahead in the manufacturers’ championship, for me the real championship is the ‘front-wheel drive championship’ as we’re not even in the same league as the ‘rear-wheel drive championship’. That’s not taking anything away from Colin, he’s a brilliant driver, and I’m not taking anything away from West Surrey Racing, but come on, let’s look at what’s going on…Colin’s not even in our championship, he’s got one all on his own, so for us, the mission is to stay ahead of the Hondas and come home second, and that’s as good as a win for us.”

Looking ahead to 2015, Plato believes it’s key that the series organisers TOCA confirm what equalisation measures there will be, if any, to address the difference in performance that a number of the drivers have expressed exists between the rear-wheel drive formula and the front-wheel drive cars in this year’s BTCC.

“We don’t know what the regulations are, (TOCA need to) tell us what the regulations are now, but they can’t tell us what they are now, because if they do they’ll be admitting they got it wrong, so they’re in a difficult position,” explained Plato.

“The only thing I know is my contract with MG ends at the last race in October, and from that moment on I’m looking for opportunities, and what shape that will be time will tell.”

Rumours at the weekend have linked Plato with a switch from Triple Eight to West Surrey Racing in 2015, an option which Plato admits is something he would entertain, but he could only evaluate his options when the rules for next season are confirmed.

“If the commercial deal was right, of course I would, but if Alan Gow’s going to penalise those cars over the winter, we need to think do we go that way or not?

“If they’re not going to make any changes, everyone can throw their front-wheel drive cars in the skip, because if they’re not going to change the regulations there’s not going to be a championship next year, because who wants to turn up and come second?

“So we need to know, and we need to know because this is a business for me, this is how I make my money, and we have a lot of investors and a responsibility to keep them informed as to what’s happening, and at the minute we’re hearing nothing, and that’s not good enough.”