Jason Plato is relishing the opportunity to tackle Croft in the rear-wheel drive Subaru Levorg GT as the British Touring Car Championship makes its annual trip to Yorkshire to visit the challenging 2.13 mile circuit.
Both Plato and the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing squad were in resurgent form a fortnight ago at Oulton Park, with the double champion claiming a hat-trick of podium finishes whilst team-mate Colin Turkington took a historic first victory in the series for a Subaru model.
The results come after a stringent and thorough testing programme from the team during the opening rounds of the season, along with two days in changeable weather conditions at Pembrey between the triple headers at Thruxton and Oulton.
Plato, who was born close to Croft in the nearby city of Newcastle, heads into the weekend placed 14th in the standings, some 90 points adrift of former team-mate, Sam Tordoff, at the summit.
However, he will face stern opposition from the rest of the field, most notably West Surrey Racing, who claimed all three race victories in 2015 with their trio of rear-wheel drive BMW 125i M-Sport machines, with Tordoff, Rob Collard and the now-WEC driver Andy Priaulx taking a win apiece.
Looking ahead, Plato admitted that the weekend is likely to be a busy one for him off-circuit, but he is relishing the chance to put the Subaru through its paces at the northern venue.
“I always enjoy racing at Croft,” admitted Plato
“The phone invariably rings with friends contacting me for tickets, but in truth it’s great to see familiar faces there. The racing is always good up there. It’s a rear-wheel drive track and I think it’ll suit the Subaru, so I can’t wait for the weekend.”
He also reflected briefly on a strong weekend at Oulton Park, which was a culmination of the team’s development work and both Plato and long-term engineering partner Carl Faux’s initial idea and design.
“It was a great weekend,” he commented.
“Whilst there was never any doubt in the team’s mind that it would come good, we were especially looking forward to Oulton. We’d done quite a lot of development, so we were feeling up for it.”
“It was a monumental day for everybody and I have to thank all involved. We’re back in town. I haven’t won a race yet but I was pretty close to doing so. We took three podiums in a day, so I’m happy with that.”
The three races at Croft get underway on Sunday 19th June at 12:02, 14:39 and 17:06 respectively.