Jason Plato was pleased to claim his first podium in ten months after finishing behind Subaru team-mate Ash Sutton in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Croft, but he still called for more engine performance.
Although Plato lost out to the fast-starting BMW of Andrew Jordan at the beginning of the race, the two-time champion was able to keep pace and got back past Jordan later in the race.
Plato then set about closing the gap to team-mate Sutton, but was unable to get close enough to mount a pass and had to settle for second – his first podium since Rockingham in August last year.
“I’m really happy with it – it was a good race,” said Plato to TouringCars.Net. “My start wasn’t the best I’ve ever done; it was OK, it was on similar terms to Ash, but Jordan got a flyer.
“I couldn’t get past him because on every straight I lose more car lengths, so the status quo is still the same. We’re out of the mire – but we’ve still have got a long way to go in engine performance.
“We are nowhere near – and that’s just me telling you the truth, because we watch the BMWs drive past people down the straights like they’ve done many times this year.
“But I’m happy because I’m racing again and I’m competing. I was close enough to Jordan that I was better around the corners and better on the brakes so that I could then plan a move when his tyres started to go off and execute an overtaking move. That’s the first one I’ve done in 18 months.”
Plato admitted that he hadn’t thought about his strategy yet for the rest of the day, but didn’t rule out targeting the reverse grid race three given that he now has to carry success ballast for the first time this year in race two.
“It’s going to hurt us a lot. It’s just dead weight – so that’s going to hurt so we’ll see what we can do.
“I have in the past thought about that sort of stuff [going for a good reverse grid placing] – it’s well documented – but we’ll have a chat with the team.
“The most important thing is to get some good exposure for Adrian Flux and our key sponsors and partners and that’s what we’ve achieved.”
Plato also called for the team’s engine partners – Swindon Racing Engines – to up their game as well, as he admits that recent pressure placed on Team BMR has caused them to do their bit with the chassis.
“I’m really pleased – the team have been put under an enormous amount of pressure, a lot of it is by me, and also by themselves, but I’ve been critical.
“Credit where it’s due; they’ve really worked very hard, particularly since Oulton Park, trying to really dig down and understand where they can make some improvements, and they genuinely have found some performance – not in the engine.
“We’re talking about BMR now, they’ve genuinely found some in the installation of the engine and the cooling system, but we still have some work to do.
“Our engine suppliers have got to really up their game. It’s not a criticism, it’s just that we need more.”