Jason Plato could be penalised for on-air diatribe

2001 and 2010 British Touring Car Champion Jason Plato could be punished by the stewards for his comments after Round 11 of the championship at Oulton Park, where he criticized the series handling of performance parity.

British motorsport newspaper Motorsport News claims the 43-year-old champion has been cited to appear before the stewards after his angry statement to ITV Sport, where the Silverline Chevrolet driver refused to celebrate his fourth race victory of the season, taken after the two Honda drivers had collided at the final corner of the last lap eliminating themselves from a maximum points scoring 1-2 result.

“Look, I don’t want to say anything cos I don’t want to say the wrong thing, but I’d like Alan Gow to come here and explain to all the viewers at home what’s going on because, let’s just open our eyes and have a look, it’s a joke,” said Plato to ITV Sport post-race.

When asked if he could take anything positive from the result he responded:
“I can’t take anything from it, no. We’ve lucked in again. But, just look how the Honda car just streaks past us in a straight line. There’s meant to be performance parity, I’m sorry, but I’m either blind or stupid, but that doesn’t look like it to me. I’m not happy about it.”

Jason Plato could be punished under either Articles 4.4.3 of the British Touring Car Championship’s Sporting Regulations, or Article 151. c) of the FIA International Sporting Code, which states:

Article 151. c) of the FIA International Sporting Code:
Any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.

Article 4.4.3 of the MSA British Touring Car Championship Sporting Regulations:
Where in the opinion of the Administrator a competitor…has by act or omission to act or otherwise brought the Championship…into disrepute, irrespective of any prosecution under the General Regulations of the MSA, the Administrator will be entitled to require the Championship Stewards to enquire into the matter. Then after enquiring into the matter and giving the parties an opportunity to be heard if the Championship Stewards find the Championship (has) been brought into disrepute they will refer the matter to the Administrator who may impose any of the additional Championship penalties set out in Sporting Regulation 4.4.4.

The BTCC’s regulations specify anything from a reprimand to exclusion from the championship as the available range of penalties, though it’s most likely that if any penalty was deemed necessary, it would be in the realms of a fine or points deduction.

Jason Plato’s responses were more measured in his words later to the media, including our interview here. On Tuesday, the reigning champion took to the internet forums to further explain his opinion and complaint.

Series Director Alan Gow has maintained that the series will constantly review the performance of the normally aspirated and turbocharged cars in order to maintain parity over the next two years, but didn’t rule out the possibility that could be brought forward if all competitors switch to turbo engines before the 2012 season.

TOCA has now altered the performance of the cars before the last two rounds of the championship, both times in the normally aspirated cars favour, with a boost reduction for all turbo competitors at Thruxton and a weight reduction for those conforming fully to S2000 regulations at Oulton Park.

Jason Plato is in fifth place in the championship, 12 points down on points leader Matt Neal, with Chevrolet 27 points down on Honda in the manufacturers/constructors standings.