Jason Plato won two out of three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park today to restore his lead in the Drivers’ standings. By beating arch rival Fabrizio Giovanardi in all three races, Jason has turned a one point deficit into a 25 point advantage. SEAT Sport UK also takes the lead in the Teams’ Championship, and a 75 points profit has halved the gap between SEAT and Vauxhall at the top of the Manufacturers’ table. And all at a racing circuit which hasn’t historically been good for SEAT.

Darren Turner qualified 2nd and held 2nd in two races, but while the torrential rain and wet conditions played into Jason’s hands, it created problems for Darren. He locked up and overshot the chicane in the first race and dropped from 2nd to 13th (eventually finishing 12th), and after finishing 6th in race two his windscreen wipers failed when he was once challenging for the lead in race three.

ROUND 16

Torrential rain, deep puddles of standing water, impenetrable spray and aquaplaning made Round 16 of the BTCC extremely tricky for the 23 drivers who started the first of three races on the 1.96 mile Donington Park National Circuit in Leicestershire. Mat Jackson (BMW 320si) made a great start from the second row to take the lead, but then ran wide at Old Hairpin and let Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic) take the lead, while Darren overtook Jackson as they raced down the Dunlop Straight.

As cars battled for position, they ran off the racing line and hit puddles, spun off and overshot corners. Even the most experienced drivers like Jason were not immune, as on lap two he locked up under braking for the final chicane and ran down the escape road, dropping from 7th to 9th.

After two Safety Car periods – the first when Tom Ferrier (SEAT Toledo) hit a spinning Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra) and stopped in the middle of the track at McLeans, and again when Fiona Leggate (MG ZS) hit the tyre barrier at the chicane – the 16 lap race was extended to 19. As the rain increased and the conditions deteriorated, Darren hit the brakes earlier for the final chicane, but still locked up and skated down the escape road. He dropped from 2nd to 13th, and eventually finished 12th after overtaking Erkut Kizilirmak (Astra Sport Hatch) on the penultimate lap.

Jason had a close and fair battle with Tom Onslow-Cole (BMW 320si) and then Mike Jordan (Honda Integra), and eventually finished 5th. The result was good enough for Jason to re-take the lead in the BTCC Drivers’ standings, by two points.

ROUND 17

Jason dominated the middle BTCC race at a very wet Donington Park, to score the maximum 17 points available in the Drivers’ standings for winning, leading the race and setting the fastest lap. Victory moved Jason to 17 points ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra) and was his 37th BTCC win of his career, making him the undisputed second-most successful race-winning driver in the history of the series.

In pouring rain, Jason made a fantastic start from 5th on the grid to move up a place on the race down to the first corner. He then overtook Adam Jones (SEAT Toledo) at Coppice on lap three to move up to 3rd, and overtook Matt Neal (Honda Civic) to take 2nd in an audacious opposite-lock sideways move around the outside of Redgate. Jason set five fastest lap times in the race, each time bettering his own record as he sliced over two seconds off his lap time as conditions improved slightly. After three side-by-side attempts to overtake Shedden down the Craner Curves, Jason took the lead on lap 12 when he made the manoeuvre stick after a good run out of the Hollywood corner. He then increased his lead by around one second per lap, taking the chequered flag after 16 exciting laps +5.876 seconds ahead of Shedden.

Darren made a great start from 12th on the grid and was up to 8th by the end of the opening lap. He had a good battle with Matt Allison (SEAT Toledo), before making 7th place his own and then began to close on Jordan – moving up to 6th with a good move under Starkey’s Bridge. Although Darren was rapidly catching the cars ahead, there was not enough laps left for him to make further progress and he finished a fighting 6th.

ROUND 18

With the top nine from the previous race randomly selected to start the third and final race in reverse order, Jason started from the outside of row five and Darren started from the inside of row two.

Although it wasn’t actually raining, wet weather Dunlop tyres were essential as a lot of standing water remained on the track. Both SEAT Leons made a great start and immediately moved up a place – and they continued to move up places until Darren and Jason were running 2nd and 3rd behind Jordan. Darren’s windscreen wipers stopped working and Jason overtook his team-mate entering the final chicane on lap seven and then took the lead when he took a tight line though the Old Hairpin on the next lap. Jason lost the lead for a few corners on lap 11, but once out in front again he was never worried and raced to a +1.489 second victory.

Having been overtaken by Jason, Darren was under pressure from Neal and lost 3rd place when Matt muscled past at McLeans on lap eight. Unable to see anything with three cars spraying water and mud, Darren was slowed and then forced wide at Redgate on lap 14, dropped to 9th in one corner.