Plato and Tordoff Storm Donington

THE MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save Team took a sublime 1-2 double in tricky conditions at the Donington Park round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, as the Leicestershire circuit experienced a multitude of weather patterns, which in turn delivered an outstanding day of racing.

After obliterating the previous lap record for the 1.979 National circuit the day before, Jason Plato completed an impressive lights-to-flag victory in Sunday’s first race, leading home team-mate Sam Tordoff by 0.442s. The pair were in a class of their own as they battled throughout the first race of the weekend in decidedly treacherous conditions.

While their championship rivals fell away, Jason and Sam sensibly managed their wet tyres when the track began to dry. With three laps to go Jason stretched his advantage over his 25-year-old team-mate and the pair crossed the line over six seconds ahead of their nearest rival, reigning BTCC Champion, Andrew Jordan. The first race win also provided Jason with a further prize, the Tom Wheatcroft Trophy, which was awarded to him by Christopher Tate, Managing Director at Donington Park Limited on the podium.

In the second race of the day, a prolonged downpour of rain prior to the start ensured wets would be the order of the day. This gave Jason and Sam the opportunity to showcase the much-improved wet weather performance of the Triple Eight Race Engineering-run MG6 GTs. Off the grid Sam and Jason, sharing the front row after the earlier success, both got away well with Sam just edging the two-time BTCC Champion.

In a race that saw the safety car complete more laps than some of the competitors, the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save Team twosome battled hard to come home first and second again, ahead of a trio of baying Honda Civics. The victory was Sam’s second BTCC career win and the Yorkshireman, who celebrated his 25th birthday the day before, confessed after the race it was one of the toughest races he’d ever driven.

The reverse grid draw saw Jason start in P5 and Sam in P6 for the final race of the day, and both drivers made a solid start off the line in the greasy, but dry conditions. Jason worked his way up to third by the end of the first lap and Sam improved to fifth; a safety car period brought the field together once more and Jason got the jump on Matt Neal’s Honda Civic Tourer, a position he held until lap 12.

Both drivers quickly experienced the result of an aggressive soft tyre setup though and with their Dunlop rubber passing their optimum levels, slipped backwards. Jason held his own amongst an attack by three former BTCC Champions, Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan, to take sixth; Sam battled hard to take fourteenth and was pleased not to leave empty-handed.

The weekend’s success have boosted the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save Team’s position in the championship standings heading into the third weekend of the season at Thruxton (3-4 May) and the Greatworth-based squad sit second with 142 points, 22 adrift of Honda Yuasa Racing. The double 1-2 results have also thrust Jason and Sam into the Championship battle, with Jason joint leader, tied on 87 points with Jordan.

Photo: Aaron Lupton.