In 1997 the motorsport world witnessed the arrival of Jason Plato, a young driver who secured his seat with the Williams-Renault team by doorstepping Frank Williams directly. After several hours of waiting, Jason was told that there would be a test between himself and two former Formula One drivers Jean-Christophe Bullion and Gianni Morbidelli.
Jason Plato Profile
Jason came out on top of the test and took his place alongside his reigning champion team-mate Alain Menu. The season couldn’t have started better for the young plucky Brit, he took pole in the first three races, he eventually won two races during his debut season and certainly made himself seen in the BTCC paddock.
A few years later in 2000, Plato joined Vauxhall and again finished 5th in the standings for the third year running, but in 2001 he got his shot at the title with the team who clearly had the best car all season, a very hard fought season was finally decided after team-mate Yvan Muller’s car set alight giving Jason the title.
In 2002 he went in search of a career in NASCAR and entered the ASCAR stockcar championship, ultimately finishing third come the end of the season. 2003 was a very solemn year for year as he spent it being a driver coach for Seat.
2004 saw the return of Plato to the BTCC with the Seat team. Seat had decided to make the entry into the series and with who better than their top driving coach. Unfortunately the car wasn’t the best and Jason won one race in 2004 and finished 10th in standings. Heading into 2005 Jason was more optimistic, but with the pace of the Team Dynamics Honda and the Vauxhall team, Seat couldn’t quite give Jason a title winning car with only winning 3 races through the season.
His rivalry with Matt Neal had also made itself very apparent and the two would often come to blows on and off the track.
In 2006 Seat brought their new Leon model to the BTCC and with renewed vigour. Passing 200 starts, a revolving door of team-mates in Darren Turner and former champion James Thompson and winning a solid eight races still wasn’t enough to secure Plato with another title to his name. Instead his arch rival Matt Neal took his second title on the bounce.
2007 turned out the most turbulent of Jason’s career, another close title fight with Fabrizio Giovanardi throughout the season. In October of that year, Jason was doing some filming for the motoring show Fifth Gear, during a test of the Caparo T1 the car caught fire at high speed and Jason unfortunately was burnt during the incident He gave a description of his injuries – “The back of my neck is burnt and so are my face and hands. I obviously couldn’t take my hands off the steering wheel whilst braking and my right hand is more badly burnt than my left.”. Despite all of this, he still competed in the final round of the championship at Thruxton and still scored two podium finishes.
2008 saw the arrival of Seat’s Diesel Leon debut in the series. There was a lot of scepticism around the idea, but it did not disappoint as it helped Jason to eight victories, including the first ever diesel win in the BTCC, but in the end it was another year without another championship to his name.
Seat as a factory team pulled out of the BTCC leaving Jason out of a drive for 2009, there was speculation that Plato was planning to take a sabbatical from racing to focus on his work with Fifth Gear. However, after holding talks over the off-season with various teams, Plato decided to return to the BTCC in a privately entered RML Group Chevrolet Lacetti. After the first race meeting at Brands Hatch the team had managed to secure Silverline tools as a title sponsor. Taking seven wins and beating Dan Eaves’ record of taking all three wins in a day at the final meeting at Brands Hatch, Plato and his new team certainly showed that they were a force to be reckoned with despite being so new, albeit once more Jason was runner up in the title.
For the 2010 season RML became a fully official Chevrolet factory team, it turned out to be a superb year for the team. Plato claimed another seven wins, but ultimate consistency helped Jason to equal Andy Rouse’s all time record of 60 BTCC wins and in doing so finally securing his second British Touring Car title.
In 2011 he stuck with Chevrolet, surpassed Rouse’s win record, but again, could quite replicate his 2010 form and once more finished second in the standings come seasons end.
2012 saw MG enter the BTCC and entice Plato away from Chevrolet. The MG 6 was a success straight out the garage also. Winning race three in the opening weekend really signaled intent from both Jason and MG. Six wins was all he could muster, but he always knew there was more to come.
In 2013 despite a superb eight wins another title went begging due to not being consistent enough and lacking the power output of some of the turbo cars on the grid.
2014 saw another title push from Jason, taking 6 wins and having consistent podium finishes just wasn’t enough to get that third title he so desperately wants.
Heading into 2015 Jason signed for BMR alongside another double and reigning champion in Colin Turkington. Jason has won four races so far this season and heading into Snetterton he’ll be looking to grab more wins and aim for that title crown once more.
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