Jason Plato took his tally of British Touring Car Championship victories to 80 with a double victory at Silverstone, leading home a third MG 1-2 finish of the season in the process.
After taking a 1-2 result in qualifying ahead of round 25, Plato converted that into win number 79 and repeated the feat in race two despite carrying 45kgs of success ballast.
A seventh place finish in the final race of the weekend meant that he continues to have an outside chance of taking his third BTCC title at Brands Hatch in 2 weeks time.
“Winning races is what is important now and that was my main focus at Silverstone,” Plato said. “To reach 80 wins in the BTCC is satisfying personally, but what I am also pleased about is that we took our chances when they came.
“The car worked well and we really improved its handling in the faster corners. OK, we will have some work to do on the soft option rubber, but we are still making progress all the time.”
Looking ahead to Brands Hatch, Plato concedes that he is the outsider as he is presently 49 points behind Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek Racing Honda with 67 points available at finals day.
“We have an outside chance for the championship and I am not going to pass up any opportunity that comes my way, but we are not daft. It is one heck of a long shot,” added Plato.
“I am going to Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time with one thing in my mind; there are people trying to win a championship but it is such a distant dream for me. All I can do is go there only to win. Then whatever happens will happen.”
Team-mate Sam Tordoff took his fourth podium finish of the season in the opening race, having followed Plato for the entire duration of the opening race – helping to secure the third 1-2 finish of the season of the team.
This was backed up with a 4th place finish in the second race before a spin in the final race left the Yorkshire racer down the order. The incident with Tordoff is still under investigation with the appeal due to be heard at Brands Hatch.
“Qualifying was great,” he explained. “I just got pipped by Jason but we had a great car. The MG KX Momentum MG6 is quick again and we need now to get justice in terms of the accident that I was involved in and then go to Brands and look forward.
“I can get stuck in and mix up the championship fight,” added Tordoff. “Jason has given himself half a shout with his wins at Silverstone, so I will help him if I can.”