A crestfallen Warren Scott was disappointed that he could not help Jason Plato to a third British Touring Car Championship crown, despite his Team BMR outfit scooping three titles.
Scott’s team secured the Independent Drivers’, Teams’ and Independent Teams’ championships after a breakthrough year, although Plato fell four points short of overhauling Gordon Shedden in the Drivers’ championship despite winning the final race.
And despite the team’s overwhelming success, Scott appeared gutted to have failed to deliver Plato a third Drivers’ crown.
“I think the goal was always to do the best that we could,” said Scott. “We were going after them all, so we’re sorely disappointed that we didn’t succeed in the Drivers’ championship.
“We tried everything for it and believe we probably should have had it,” said Scott of his driver’s disappointment. “We made a little mistake and had a few issues but that’s racing – whatever hurts us today makes us stronger tomorrow and we’ll come back fighting.
“We’re over the moon [with the titles], but…if this mistake had been made at the beginning of the year, we’d have been annoyed; it’s as if the whole championship has been decided by this one point, so it hurts.
“It makes you focus your mind a bit more keenly.”
Plato and team-mate Colin Turkington had both gone into the weekend with the chance to win the drivers’ title, with the pair finishing fifth and fourth respectively in the day’s opening race – with third driver Aron Smith in second.
Turkington’s hopes were ended by a late retirement from the second race while Plato, who had to battle past team-mate Smith during the race, advanced to sixth from eighth on the grid.
Plato had spoken out about Smith’s driving following that event, but Scott played down any rift between the pair, insisting that pre-race instructions had not been clear enough.
“It was a miscommunication. I think we all thought we knew what we were doing and the communication didn’t go through. It’s no one’s fault; I take full responsibility for it and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“Emotions are going to be high when you’re fighting for the championship,” continued Scott, when asked by TouringCars.Net about any falling out between Plato and Smith. “I think because of the miscommunication it was difficult to see if someone was misbehaving and not as they should be but I don’t think that was the case.
“The instructions were not clear enough and just didn’t get through.”