Plato to test Sutton's car after early-season BTCC woes

Plato has struggled this season since an accident in the second race of the year at Brands Hatch in early April.

He was fired into the pit wall after start-line contact and his Team BMR car was heavily damaged, leaving the 96-time BTCC race winner with poor handling on his car.

A turbo boost allowance increase at the last meeting at Oulton Park on May 21 meant all four of the Team BMR Subarus were more competitive, with Sutton winning the second of the day’s three races.

The 23-year-old lies is sixth in the standings, 14 places ahead of Plato - who scored points in all three races for the first time this season at Oulton but was unable to break into the top 10.

Team BMR is scheduled to travel to Pembrey in South Wales next week so Plato can troubleshoot his own machine when comparing it to Sutton’s.

Plato said: “We need a day away with the two cars to work it out.

"There’s progress on my car at times but we’re still trying to fathom what exactly is wrong with it. At the moment it still won’t do what we want it to do.

"Mine is not responding in the same way as the other cars – we made changes on the other cars and got the same reaction from each, but made the same changes on my car and there was no reaction, so something’s not working.

“Ash drove mine before the accident and said ‘I want exactly what he’s got!’.”

Plato also said that the increase in turbo power had helped the cars perform at Oulton Park, but there was still a way to go to match the frontrunners.

He said: “The organisers gave us increased boost on Saturday morning [at Oulton Park] and then increased it a little further on Sunday morning and it made a big difference.

“Big thanks to TOCA for measuring the on-track performance of our engines and giving us a little more power. We’re still a little bit down on power but a lot closer than we were, and we’re making progress.

“The car still can’t quite do what a Honda and a BMW can do because it hasn’t got the same power.”

Matt James