Jason Plato’s new British Touring Car Championship team Plato Racing has commissioned RML Group to design, engineer and build two cars for the 2026 season.
In September, two-time BTCC champion Plato revealed his plans to join the grid with a two-car effort in 2026.
Since then, additional information about the project has been kept under wraps, with drivers and the car yet to be confirmed.
However, Plato Racing has been recruiting top talent from other teams and has already recruited highly experienced race team manager Malcolm Swetnam from Alliance Racing, who boasts four decades of tin-top experience, along with Paul Ridgway, who also joins from Alliance, having more than two decades of experience in the sport.
Plato has now taken on a premises in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, which was previously part of RML’s base.
RML and Plato have a long history of working together. They first partnered in 2004, when RML took on the first year of running SEATs in the BTCC, before the company secured the Chevrolet contract in World Touring Cars.
When Plato was left without a drive at the end of 2008 after SEAT’s withdrawal, he turned to RML, running an independent Chevrolet campaign in 2009.
That developed into a works-supported effort in 2010, delivering Plato his second title, before Chevrolet moved on after the 2011 BTCC season.
RML Group is currently responsible for supplying the entire BTCC grid with spec-component parts under the NGTC ruleset, an arrangement which began in 2016, and whilst it will be involved in the initial design and build of the cars, it will then hand over the assets to Plato Racing to run in the 2026 BTCC.
The deal for RML to supply Plato Racing with cars for 2026 has been approved by all parties – RML Group, Plato Racing and BTCC organiser TOCA.
“We are delighted to be working with Jason again, following a number of successful years together when RML Group ran the Chevrolet works BTCC team from 2009-2011,” said RML Group Chief Executive Officer Paul Dickinson.
“Both RML and Jason Plato are synonymous with BTCC, winning multiple championships over the past 30 years.
“As ever, our professionalism can be relied upon, and we have worked with TOCA to ensure that everything is clearly defined and partitioned.
“This new project signifies an important next step in our strategy deployment as a group. We bring our engineering expertise and decades of experience across multiple racing formats to the benefit of our motorsport customers.
“RML’s Motorsport division are thrilled to have the opportunity to deliver a highly-competitive racing car.”
As a race team, RML won the BTCC drivers’ title in 1995 with Vauxhall and John Cleland, in 1999 with Nissan and Laurent Aïello and in 2010 with Chevrolet and Jason Plato.