Jason Plato is in a confident mood ahead of the new British Touring Car Championship season, with the double champion predicting to have ‘the best package out there’ in his Team BMR Subaru Levorg.
Plato endured a challenging season in 2016, only picking up a handful of points in the first nine races of the year.
Whilst his fortunes improved significantly thereafter as BMR got to grips with the new Subaru Levorg, any chance of the title was long gone.
Therefore Plato is in a much more confident mood ahead of the new season, telling the Adrian Flux Insurance blog that he expects to have one of the strongest cars on the grid at Brands Hatch this weekend.
“I’m very confident,” said Plato. “The plan is to blow everybody’s doors off. We will without doubt have a brilliant chance of winning the championship this year.
“The first year was all about development, the second year is about winning the thing. The car’s a lot quicker, and a lot lighter; we’ve moved the programme on considerably and we’re in brilliant shape.
“From a personal perspective, I am now totally at one with rear wheel drive after spending most of my career in front wheel drive machines.
“We will have the best package out there.”
Plato added that the car is now a lot lighter, allowing for better set-up and more options with the weight distribution of the Estate racer.
“We’ve saved lots and lots of weight,” added the 49-year-old. “We have to put that weight back into the car but now it means we can position the weight in a more advantageous place for weight distribution, balance etc.”
The BTCC season kicks off at Brands Hatch Indy this weekend.