|
SEAT drivers Jason Plato and Darren Turner will have extra reason to
hope for strong results in Sunday’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car
Championship rounds at Rockingham as each will be celebrating a special
day in his career.
Plato will contest his 250th
BTCC race in the first of Sunday’s three rounds. Turner, meanwhile,
will be celebrating his 34th birthday.
The pair lie third and seventh in the current BTCC standings,
respectively, following Brands Hatch’s opening rounds. At Rockingham
last year, Plato won one of the races while Turner achieved the first
BTCC pole position of his career – cruelly ruined when his car then
failed to start on the grid.
But this year the
pair will arrive armed with SEAT Sport UK’s all-new turbocharged,
diesel-powered Leon TDI that, following its unrivalled pace through
Brands’ speed traps, many predict could be untouchable along
Rockingham’s long start-finish straight towards Turn 2.
Plato,
BTCC Champion in 2001 and whose career in the championship began in
1997, said: “We went reasonably well at Rockingham last year and
because of the lay-out of the circuit and the extra time we’ve now had
with the Leon TDI, I believe that we’ll be more competitive there than
we were last time out at Brands Hatch.
“In fact,
I’m quite bullish about Rockingham, even though we go there with a lot
to learn about our new car. We’ve just about discovered the style to
driving the Leon TDI and now we’ll be able to change the set-up of the
car to make that style work.
“The engineers have
been working with the data gained at Brands Hatch to try and improve
the car, particular its mid-corner grip. We had a lot of mid-corner
understeer at Brands Hatch and we were very hard on the front tyres, so
we have a lot of performance to gain in that area, especially over a
race distance. If we can qualify well, I think we’ll have a good race
day at Rockingham.”
Turner believes the Leon will
be strong in a straight line but remains non-commital about his
chances. He added: “It’s very hard to say how we’ll get on at
Rockingham and that’s going to be the case at every new circuit we go
to this year. The Leon TDI is so different to the petrol-engined Leon;
we’ll be starting each first free practice session with pretty much a
blank piece of paper in terms of what set-up works the best.
“We’ve
improved the top speed of the car, so the long fast section between the
final corner and Turn 2 should be good for us, but the twisty infield
section isn’t too dissimilar to Brands Hatch.
“Over
the course of a lap we should be competitive at Rockingham, but I don’t
think we’ll have an advantage or be at a disadvantage – which is the
way it should be for the fans who want to see good, close racing.”
|
