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Plato blasts "appalling" driving standards in Knockhill qualifying
Jason Plato has slammed the "appalling" driving standards prevalent in BTCC after being blocked by traffic during qualifying at Knockhill.
Edited: Aug 14, 2016, 9:18 AM
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Plato claimed his first pole position of the 2016 season for Team BMR Subaru as he heads towards a milestone start in the British Touring Car Championship, his 500th race.
The pole lap came in an incident-heavy session, in which the two-time champion said he struggled to get a clear lap.
Plato was one of the last drivers to cross the line and set a new lap record at the circuit, demoting the Speedworks Toyota of Tom Ingram to second position for tomorrow’s Race 1 grid.
Although happy to score pole, the 48-year-old was disappointed with the traffic and behaviour of drivers on the 1.3 mile circuit.
“If you had 30 drivers like the top 10, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Plato said. “The driving standards from the people at the back are just quite frankly appalling.
“They shouldn’t be out there; they just haven’t got a clue, they just get in your way… [some of them] just shouldn’t be in the championship, and there’s quite a few of them.
"We’re out here trying doing a professional job and there’s people just wandering around.
"All the serious guys make every effort to get out of the way, and we can do it, so it’s frustrating, but nevertheless we managed to get the lap in.”
Plato's remarks follow those of his former team boss Ian Harrison, who argued that a number of drivers are "out of their depth" in BTCC and that stricter criteria are required to judge who should be allowed to race.
Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes
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