Power Maxed Racing has confirmed that it will field Jason Plato and the returning Mat Jackson in the 2020 British Touring Car Championship, with the duo reuniting for the first time since 2009.
Plato joined the team at the start of the 2019 season, steadily improving over the course of the year on his return to front-wheel drive racing, culminating in a victory at the season finale at Brands Hatch.
A consistent season saw Plato end the year seventh overall in the drivers’ championship standings, as he comfortably out-performed Rob Collard in his Vauxhall Astra.
The two-time champion will be joined by the returning Mat Jackson in 2020, with the fan favourite returning to the series after two seasons away.
Jackson was team-mate with Plato in 2009 when the duo campaigned RML-run Chevrolet Lacettis, before he went on to join Motorbase Performance in 2010, where he remained for the next eight years.
Jackson and Motorbase split suddenly before the start of the 2018 season, leaving him without a drive, and he has not raced in the BTCC since.
“I may have been away from the series temporarily, but thoughts of winning the BTCC were never far away,” said Jackson, a 31-time race winner in the BTCC. “I have unfinished business and it was critical for me to return with a top team, capable of mounting a consistent title challenge.
“I have received a number of offers during the last two years, but Adam has worked tirelessly to make my return possible with PMR.
“The team continues to grow in stature, and I have no doubt that they are the team I need to be with, so when the opportunity came to join them and partner with JP again, I was not going to miss out.”
Plato is looking forward to working with Jackson again, the 52-year-old remaining confident that he can hit a century of wins with the team.
“It has been a while since I was this excited for the start of the season,” said Plato. “I genuinely love my team at PMR; they work unbelievably hard to provide me with the very best car, but also have a lot of fun doing it; it’s a great place to be.
“Adam and Martin [Broadhurst, engineer] have put a very special group of people together that are focused on winning the championship, whilst sensibly making sure they are also building a stable future in the sport.
“This all helped me get my mojo back in 2019, and I want to reward them all with plenty more race wins.
“They will be the team I hit 100 wins with, I have no doubt!
“I am sorry to see Rob leave, as last year was fun, but at the same time I’m very happy about working with Mat again, and really look forward to seeing what we can achieve by working together.”
Adam Weaver, PMR Team Principal, admits that preparing for what he believes will be the team’s strongest-ever driver line-up has been ‘way past stressful’.
In addition, the team has announced ‘increased support’ from Vauxhall, who offers the outfit works backing in the championship.
“There are very few people out there who truly know how hard this BTCC game is,” said Weaver. “It takes a tremendous amount of effort to do the job well; it’s way past stressful, consistently makes me question my decision making and breaks me on a regular basis.
“However, this driver line-up alone makes it all worthwhile. It’s obvious that this is statistically our best pairing to date, and with the engineering team making the car better each year, we certainly intend to be challenging for a championship win this year.”