Jason Plato and Colin Turkington have four British Touring Car Championships between them and are regarded as two of the best drivers in the championship. However, the two titles each is where the similarities end. They have very different driving styles and personalities, but now they have something in common and it’s not something any BTCC fan can understand.
Neither driver currently has a drive for the 2015 season, and as much I would like to say BTCC is in a better position than F1 when it comes to money and talent, at the moment it stands the same. There is no question that these two are two of the best and they impact the entertainment factor a lot for BTCC, as they are so often drawn to each other on the track and that always causes fireworks.
The only sensible reason for the current situation is about the money and sponsorship and despite the fact that I don’t see why any company wouldn’t want to sponsor last year’s champion and be a part of the series that is getting bigger by the year is something that is so hard to understand. EBay achieved what they wanted to in the series and so pulled out, which is the factor that leaves Turkington’s drive in danger; there is one seat left at his old team and if he was to join back with WSR, Priaulx and Tordoff it would be a formidable team.
Plato has been backed by Tesco for the last few years and most people are aware of the financial issues and mix up they’ve been involved in recently, so they may not want to be pouring money into a driver and a Motorsport championship. Once again I can’t believe that he would be short of offers for sponsorship or in a different sport, but as media day in March draws closer the more uncertain the future is looking for these two stars.
Furthermore, as places on the grid run out and the start draws closer, there’s one space left at WSR as mentioned before, and team BMR have Warren Scott and Aron Smith, but there should be two drives left to fill there which would be the most obvious place for one of them to go.
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