Jason Plato said that the momentum is now with him after trimming the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship points lead of Gordon Shedden significantly heading into the final race of the 2015 season.
The second encounter of the day at Brands Hatch GP circuit saw Plato move to within 12 points of the Honda Yuasa Racing driver heading into the title decider, finishing sixth while Shedden fell to 19th after both battled in race one over fifth spot.
Plato was left ruing the dropped points from the opening meeting of the season at the same venue, but was happy with the outcome of a critical race.
“Of course, I’m happy with that”, Plato told The Checkered Flag after a dramatic second encounter.
“I sit here now ruing the puncture here at the start of the year. I’d be home and dry now. It’d be in the bag. I’m sat here ruing the punture at Silverstone and whether Ingram got a whack at Rockingham in the contact.”
The Team BMR man added that he could have taken more points however during the day, referring to the support of his team-mates in the opening two encounters.
“I’d have more points, wouldn’t I, if people were playing the f*cking game? But they’re not.
“We’ve had terrible luck which has cost us vital points. I’ve just been doing my job. We’ve had no fortune, we’ve been doing our job. In fact, we’ve actually had things going against us like other people in the team driving like muppets.
“When I come second I throw the f*cking trophies in the bin. No one’s interested but it matters to some people. That cost us vital points.”
The scenario means that, should Plato win the final race at the Kent circuit, Shedden must finish sixth or better to be champion. That job will be made tougher for the Scot by the fact that he must start the race 19th on the grid, albeit with no ballast in his Civic Type-R.
“But, I think it’s 12 points [deficit]… Shedden’s 19th”, pondered Plato on the final race of the 2015 season.
Plato starts on the front row of the grid for the final encounter, Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal the man who will start alongside him on pole position.
The BMR man concluded: “Yes, the momentum is with is with me – is it going to be enough? I don’t know. I start from P2 and I know Matt [Neal] is going to be a pain in the arse so we’ll wait to see!”
Race three gets underway at 17:09, and you can keep up with the action here at www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk, or via Twitter at @tcfBTCC.
