Jason Plato: it's great to be back!
By Dave Brockman:
Are you looking forward to renewing some of your old rivalries? Have you heard any reaction from the other drivers? To be honest I've only heard from James [Thompson], but I'm good friends with him anyway. I'm looking forward to it. I know where you're going with that question, but for me the championship's not just about Yvan Muller! There's some good young guys out there - for example I think Luke Hines will do a good job this year. I 'm looking forward to getting stuck into them all. Have you been following the racing over the last couple of years? I have, yes. In particular I watched the race at Rockingham, which was fantastic. You got to know Rockingham pretty well during your season in ASCAR. Is it fair to say that didn't go as well as you'd hoped? Yes, but I think we did as good a job as we could have. I don't think we could have been any better than third. If I'm dead honest I struggled a bit - I couldn't get my head round the car. I had a big shunt before the season kicked off, and of course that doesn't prepare you in the way you hope. It was interesting and it was fun, but it was potentially a long-term deal - that's what I was looking for, to get to America and race in NASCAR , but for several reasons it didn't work out that way. You mentioned that the BTCC is on the ascendancy, and ASCAR has been doing well too. Plus this year we've also got SCV8: do you think that will dilute support? I still think that the BTCC will be the pinnacle of national motorsport. It's got a great support package - the Cupra Cup is now involved in it of course - it's going to be the main weekend. I think ASCAR has its own audience, I think there's room for both. How much involvement are you going to have in the Seat championship this year? I'm going to do pretty much the same as last year. I'm still going to be involved in helping the drivers out, and I'm still going to be presenting the TV show. What's going to happen with the TV program I'm not entirely sure, maybe we'll do the same format again, maybe we'll change it. But there'll still be a race drive up for grabs for the winner.
Well I've got a two-year deal, but as with all these things there's performance related clauses. I'm looking at this opportunity with Seat as a two year plan: this year I don't think we'll win the championship - we're nowhere near ready for that - but who knows next year? They might even run a third car, we just don't know yet. I think Rob is going to do really well. He's a quick lad, he wants to learn and he's good to work with. Once of the nice things - which is going to be unusual for me - is that I'm going to have a team with whom I've every confidence. We'll work well together, because ultimately we're not going to win races unless we do. He'll adapt well, and I reckon he'll keep me honest! You mentioned the Racing Rivals TV show, but are there any other projects in the pipeline? I think Driven's run its course, but there is talk about another car show which I can't say a lot about because I just don't know yet. I would like to do more TV, it's good fun and another string to your bow - it helps the longevity of the career, after all I'm 35 now and the next big milestone's got a "4" in front of it! With thirty races this year there's ten more chances of getting a victory - do you think that's a realistic goal? I'm 100% confident we're going to get some podiums and yes, I'd like to think later in the year we could get a win or two. Our thanks to Jason for this interview. This page © 2004 www.BTCCinfo.co.uk. |
Seat Sport UK are entering the British Touring Car Championship with two ETCC-spec Toledo Cupras engineered by Ray Mallock Limited. They will both be driven by champions: Robert Huff won the 2003 Cupra Championship at the wheel of a Seat Leon and this drive is part of his prize.
It's great to be back! I'm really excited about this prospect with Seat
