Jason Plato is targeting more victories as he closes in on 100 British Touring Car Championship race wins as the series heads to the home of British Motorsport, Silverstone.
After a single podium finish in the last six races, the 2001 and 2010 Champion has fallen 62 points behind Championship leader Andrew Jordan and has conceded that the title is a long shot.
A double victory for Plato – replicating his 2012 results – would see him move to within 20 victories of the 100 wins mark.
“That’s what things are all about for me,” said Plato. “The championship is a long shot for us, so my target has to be to push my victory total towards the 100 mark. I love big shiny trophies and big bottles of champagne – that makes me very happy.”
He feels that the layout of the 1.6 mile Silverstone National circuit will play to the strengths of his KX Momentum 99 Racing MG6, as previous visits to fast circuits have helped his cause before.
“Silverstone is a really tough circuit because it is so short and that means the order can get mixed up and one of the important things will be the aerodynamics of the cars, which will play to our strengths,” he continues.
Despite taking four wins at the circuit since 2008, Plato admits that the layout of the circuit isn’t to his liking, as it features just four corners and three long straights with a technical section at the end of the lap.
“It isn’t one of the most exciting circuits in the world, but the racing is usually quite exciting because no one is able to build up a huge advantage,” said the MG racer. “We went really well at Silverstone last season and we have developed our car since then, so I am full of optimism.”
Team-mate Sam Tordoff took the last of the teams’ five victories in the 2013 campaign at Snetterton and the Yorkshire based racer is eager to add to his wins tally for the season.
Since taking his maiden victory, he has taken two other podium finishes to find himself sixth in the overall Championship with six races left in the season.
“We know that the circuit isn’t particularly suited to Honda, but there will be lots of other competitions,” explains Tordoff. “The BMWs aren’t short of boost, the Audi will be good and you can’t discount the Fords, either. It is a circuit that is all about turbo boost really and that means we will have competition from all directions.
“People think that we have bucket loads of boost, but compare the others, things are pretty equal. The lap is so short that a few tenths of a second will make all the difference and we will have to be on the pace from the very start. It is going to be intense but I am up for the fight,” the KX Akadamy driver concludes.