BTCC
BTCC: Plato leads one-two for SEAT
Jason Plato dominated round seventeen at Croft circuit as he led home a SEAT one-two. Plato took the lead as pole position holder Stefan Hodgetts went off at the first corner and SEAT team-mate Robert Huff quickly moved up to second. The pair were ...
Edited: Apr 10, 2006, 6:41 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Jason Plato dominated round seventeen at Croft circuit as he led home a SEAT one-two. Plato took the lead as pole position holder Stefan Hodgetts went off at the first corner and SEAT team-mate Robert Huff quickly moved up to second. The pair were never seriously challenged as Plato pulled away to take his third win of the season.
Hodgetts, whose previous best grid position this season was twelfth in race one, lined up in pole position ahead of Jason Plato, Luke Hines (VX Racing), Dan Eaves (Computeach Racing with Halfords), Colin Turkington (West Surrey Racing) and Huff. Championship leader Yvan Muller started in ninth place with race-one winner Anthony Read one place further back in tenth.
Hodgetts's lead lasted not even as far as the first corner as he slowed with mechanical problems and was nudged into the gravel. Hines was extremely slow away from the line and eventually picked up pace at the back of the field. Eaves made another great start and the incidents at the front allowed him to move up to second place behind Plato, with Huff also improving from sixth to third at the start and then incredibly up to second place just before the end of the first lap.
Plato tried to build up a gap at the front but Huff maintained the pressure and this allowed Eaves and Thompson to close up and produced an exciting four-way battle, with Muller just behind in fifth. Neal moved ahead of Muller on the third lap but then made a mistake and dropped down two places. Plato then put in two very fast laps to pull out one second over his team-mate Huff and he was regularly the quicker of the two drivers as Eaves and Thompson slowly tailed away.
An intense battle was forming between Muller, Turkington and Neal with the trio just one second apart by lap eight. Neal's pressure paid off as he moved ahead of Turkington on lap eleven and immediately set about challenging Muller, successfully passing him three laps later to move up to fifth.
Plato eased off towards the end and lead home the silver and yellow cars by one second, with Eaves two seconds behind in third and Thompson another two seconds further back and narrowly ahead of Neal in fifth.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Newman uses hot shoe to grab Loudon pole
Next article Schumacher storms to pole for German GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Yvan Muller
Muller, Ehrlacher retained by Lynk & Co for 2020
WTCR
WTCR
Muller, Ehrlacher retained by Lynk & Co for 2020
Macau WTCR: Muller scores back-to-back wins
WTCR
WTCR
Macau
Macau WTCR: Muller scores back-to-back wins
Macau WTCR: Muller wins Race 1, Michelisz retakes points lead
WTCR
WTCR
Macau
Macau WTCR: Muller wins Race 1, Michelisz retakes points lead
Latest news
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
3 h
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
5 h
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe