Jason Plato slams NGTC engine advantage

Two-times BTCC champion Jason Plato has questioned where the performance parity is, after an uncompetitive showing for the Chevrolet Cruze at Donington Park.

Plato went into the second round of the season as the championship leader after two wins at Brands Hatch, but both Cruzes struggled in practice and qualifying, with Plato running wide picking up a puncture in race one, and a massive crash in race two meant the he picked up just five points in the final race in a battered car.

As a result, he dropped to fifth in the championship standings behind James Nash, Matt Neal, Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson.

Plato was 12th fastest in both of Saturday’s practice sessions, and found a little more pace from the Chevrolet to put the car eighth on the grid.

“My qualifying time from last year was one of those amazing laps you do from time-to-time,” said Plato to TouringCarTimes.

“We got everything right, we had the balance perfect, and I also got a little bit of a tow, so to beat an ‘11.5 is good going. We predicted we might do an ‘11.5, maybe just an ‘11.4, but to do an ‘11.3, we’re pretty pleased from that perspective because we’ve improved from last year.”

Plato questioned why there had been no move to implement balancing measures, which had left MacDowall and himself at the bottom end of the top ten in qualifying in last year’s World championship winning Cruze.

“There’s no equivilency and there should be. We were told at the beginning of the year by Alan Gow that there would be some equivilency.”

“There’s lots of data in the public domain now, and also TOCA have got more data than anybody so they can look at it, and they can equalise it, or not. But at the moment, there is no equivilancy…I am 1.2 seconds off pole!”

Plato added:

“We did an ‘11.5 last year, which was a stellar lap, that puts me 11th (this year). Look who’s doing ‘11.5s, ‘11.7s now, is that right?”

Plato’s comments have been echoed by the BMW drivers and teams all weekend, who have been struggling against the turbocharged cars. BMW squad West Surrey Racing put out a press release prior to Donington Park, questioning the recurring concern from the NGTC-engine teams about tyre wear, with Team Principal Dick Bennetts stating:

“We read with interest all the ‘turbo teams’ saying that they struggle with tyre degradation and loss of engine braking over a race distance, however, if anyone has cared to look at Mat Neal’s FP2, 24 lap race run at Brands, then we find it very hard to see where they are coming from!”

The Honda Racing Team drivers however believe the regulations are fair, and don’t believe any kneejerk changes to are required, with everyone running fairly to the regulations, and the race rules seeming to be playing their part in the competition.

“We’ve got good pace over one lap, the Chevrolet’s got good pace over the race distance, I mean Jason won two races at Brands…different circuits are going to suit different people,” said Honda driver Gordon Shedden.

On the question of performance parity, Shedden added:

“It’s always very difficult to get parity. Jason’s quick to forget that when he had that diesel powered SEAT a few years ago.”

“You’ve got a situation now where we’ve got 12-14 turbo NGTC cars and Jason…the formula’s changed a little bit. Jason was quite happy when he had everything going for him with the diesel SEAT, and every car in the field didn’t have that option or opportunity.”

“We’ve got two fully-fledged works teams in Chevrolet and Team Dynamics, who’s to say why Chevrolet should be the benchmark?”

“I don’t see why it’s right to penalise us for doing a good job? And people are quick to forget as well that our car handling wise was renowned up and down the paddock as the best handling car last year.”

Matt Neal’s struggles in race two, dropping behind the two Vauxhalls of Andrew Jordan and James Nash appeared to indicate that the penalty ballast system was doing its job against the turbo-powered Hondas.

“It’s great in qualifying, till we’ve smacked weight on it,” said Neal.

“We put weight in it in the second race, and we struggled. Really, really struggled, more than Jason would. That’s something which we’re going to have try to look at.”

Series Director Alan Gow has since indicated on his official forum at BTCC.net that there are likely to be measures put in place for the next round at Thruxton.

“Clearly we have always stated that there should be performance parity between the two types (normally aspirated and turbo) for the next two seasons. That is not an issue and is a policy known and agreed by every team – and one we have publicly stated many times over the last 18 months.

“In very simple terms; the performance of the fastest/best of each type should be comparable for 2011 and 2012 – of course given that they are of a comparable level of quality of driver/team/car/preparation and that, at times, each car will have their own strengths and weaknesses at differing circuits.”

“Obviously we need to analyse the data thoroughly but, as a guess, I would say it’s likely there will be an adjustment before Thruxton. I fully expect more tweaks will be made throughout the season (either way) as teams continue to refine their cars….all of which makes for a fascinating championship, as we are already seeing.”