Having won two out of the opening three races at Brands Hatch, Jason Plato is out to extend his lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship when the series visits Rockingham Motor Speedway near Corby for the first time in four years. His biggest rival over the April 21-22 race weekend could be his SEAT Sport UK team-mate Darren Turner, who, with no success ballast on his Leon, will be aiming to qualify on pole and duplicate Jason's previous race wins.

The BTCC returns to the £70M Northamptonshire circuit for the first time since 2003, and the 26 drivers will face a challenging mix of flat-out banked turns with brick walls and a technical inner section with tight corners and gravel traps. The new 1.94 mile International Super Sports Car Circuit is the only anti-clockwise track on the BTCC calendar, and with no data from previous Rockingham races to carry forward, the two free practice sessions on Saturday morning (21 April) will be even more crucial than normal.

Whilst Jason and Darren contested the 2002 ASCAR Championship around the Rockingham Oval, neither contested the BTCC race the following year.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Nick Clipson, SEAT Sport Race Engineer: "Rockingham is unusual for many reasons, as it's the only anti-clockwise circuit on the BTCC calendar and it's the only track to feature banked turns. As it's new this year, all the teams will start from a fairly equal position, having no set-up or data to carry over from previous seasons. The circuit is fairly tight, very compact, has a few bumps to upset the cars and because of its limited use it has a fairly low level of grip; all of which means that the set-up of the cars is even more critical than normal and we will have to maximise what limited track time we have. The track layout should provide numerous overtaking opportunities, ensuring close and exciting racing, and on the back of a very encouraging Brands Hatch, where both cars proved quick, the team is looking forward to collecting a load more points at Rockingham."

Advertisment

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato: "I didn't do the BTCC race at Rockingham in 2003, but I saw it on television and it was very close - and I expect it to be very close again. We've had a good start to the season and we'll be trying to do what we did at Brands Hatch and qualify on the front row and win the first two races. But we're also looking at things from a Championship perspective, and we must extend our advantage on the circuits that suit us and lose as fewer points as possible on the circuits that don't. There is a much bigger picture that we're all focused on this year and Rockingham is just a part of it."

Darren Turner: "I was disappointed with my results at Brands Hatch, but at least I go to Rockingham now with no success ballast and that should help me in qualifying and in the first race. I was quite pleased with my pace at Brands Hatch, but I made two bad starts and got tangled up with people I shouldn't have got tangled up with. That contributed to my two no-scores, but I was pleased with my pace in the second race. If I can qualify well at Rockingham and improve my starts, I can replicate what Jason did at the first meeting - and that would put me straight back into a Championship fighting position."

ROCKINGHAM FACT FILE

Darren Turner and Jason Plato were 4th and 5th fastest around the Rockingham International Super Sports Car Circuit during the official BTCC test day on March 13th. Fabrizio Giovanardi set the pace with a lap time of 1:24.806, with Mike Jordan 2nd quickest and Colin Turkington 3rd. Darren's best lap time was 1:25.022 (+0.216) and Jason's was 1:25.110 (+0.304).

Jason Plato and Darren Turner raced against each other at Rockingham in 2002, when they contested the ASCAR Championship. Jason finished 3rd in the series, while Darren was 7th.

Darren's Pontiac Grand Prix ASCAR race car was run by the HTML team, which was owned by Jonathan Heynes - who is now SEAT Sport UK's Race Team Manager.

Darren celebrated his 33rd birthday on Friday 13th of April. He shares his birthday with the FIA President, Max Mosley (who is 67).

Although he didn't race in 2003, Jason did make a very public appearance at Rockingham that year - working as driver mentor in the SEAT Cupra Championship and presenting the Racing Rivals television programme with Nell McAndrew.