Jason Plato

BTCC (1997–2001)

Williams Renault (1997–1999)

In 1997, Plato gained the second drive in the Williams-Renault BTCC team, after Frank Williams organised a test between him, Gianni Morbidelli and Jean-Christophe Boullion with the fastest getting the contract offer. After being overlooked by Williams, Plato travelled to the Williams base and after some convincing, Sir Frank gave Plato the drive.[1]

Plato took pole for his first three races in the Renault Laguna, and ultimately won two races as a rookie, taking third in the championship which was won by his team-mate Alain Menu. He was fifth in the series in each of the next two years.

Vauxhall (2000–2001)

Plato joined Vauxhall in 2000, again taking fifth place in the championship. For 2001, the series had a new set of reduced-cost rules, fewer big-name drivers as a result, and Vauxhall had by far the best car. In a contentious and hard-fought season, Plato won the championship after team-mate Yvan Muller's car caught fire at the last round.

ASCAR and Break from BTCC (2002–2003)

With an ambition to get into NASCAR racing, Plato moved to the British ASCAR stock car scene in 2002, finishing third in the championship for XCEL Motorsport Ford Taurus.

In 2003, Plato was a driver coach for SEAT, returning to the BTCC with the Spanish team in 2004.

BTCC return (2004–2022)

SEAT (2004–2008)

Plato was employed by SEAT to help with their driver development in 2003, and when they entered a BTCC team in 2004, he was the natural choice to lead the team. However the new SEAT Toledo needed developing if it were to become a race winner. Despite the development work needed, the car proved to be a winner right from the start, with Plato going on to win more races than any other driver (seven in total), finishing third overall in the championship. The regulations for 2004 meant that the driver who finished tenth in the first of the meeting's three races had pole (and a light car) for race 2, and the winner of race 2 had pole for race 3 (although with a now-heavier car). As a result of this, the championship rules were changed to reversing the top-ten of the race 3 grid, putting an end to this tactic, and the pace of Matt Neal's Team Dynamics Honda and Yvan Muller's Vauxhall left Plato unable to challenge for a second title in 2005. He finished fourth in the 2005 championship with only three wins to his credit during the season, with the team now run by Northern South.

For 2006, Plato continued in the British Touring Car Championship as lead driver for SEAT and their new León touring car. He was the only driver in the three-driver team to compete in all 10 meetings – his team-mates, double BTCC champion James Thompson

RML Chevrolet (2009–2011)

Plato's plans for 2009 had been affected by SEAT's shock announcement to pull their factory team out of the BTCC at the end of the 2008 season. It was speculated that Plato was planning to take a sabbatical from racing to focus on his TV work. However, after holding talks over the off-season with West Surrey Racing and Tempus Sport, Plato decided to return to the BTCC in a privately entered RML Group Chevrolet Lacetti. After the first meeting, the team secured sponsorship from Silverline power tools and Auto Windscreens for the rest of the season, and raced under the Racing Silverline banner. At the final round of the season at Brands Hatch, Plato became only the second driver after Dan Eaves at Thruxton in 2005 to win all three races, the first of which he won by a then closest-ever BTCC winning margin of 0.015 seconds, ahead of Tom Chilton. He finished second in the 2009 championship, five points behind champion Colin Turkington.

For 2010, RML became an official Chevrolet manufacturer team, racing the Cruze model that races in the World Touring Car Championship, with Plato as lead driver. Plato was a championship challenger immediately, with a double victory at Snetterton returning him to the championship lead.[4] He dominated the second half of the season and claimed the 2010 MSA Dunlop British Touring Car Championship by winning round 29 at Brands Hatch on 10 October 2010.

MG KX Momentum Racing (2012–2014)

In 2012 and 2013, Plato raced for the Triple Eight Race Engineering (United Kingdom) team in their MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 and came 3rd in the Championship in both years. In 2014, with a similar but differently-sponsored car (MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save) under the same team, he came second in the championship.

Team BMR (2015–2018)

On 17 February 2015, it was announced that Plato would be driving alongside Turkington, Aron Smith and Warren Scott for Team BMR during the 2015 BTCC season.[5] He took 6 wins during the year but missed out on the title by four points.

In January 2016, it was announced that Team BMR would run four Subaru Levorgs for the season. A slow start saw Jason record a best finish of 13th at Brands Hatch. Once the team developed the Levorg into a race winning car, Plato took nine podiums along with a win at Knockhill in his 500th race. He continued with the team in 2017 but a crash at the first round at Brands Hatch derailed his season before it had begun. Permanent damage was sustained to the chassis of his car that plagued him with grip and under steer issues for the majority of the season. Nevertheless, he still took four podium finishes, including another win at Knockhill, and finished the season in 12th place in the standings.

Plato remained with BMR Subaru for 2018, as the team switched from using a Mountune engine to a Swindon engine in an effort to resolve the reliability issues that had hampered Plato's campaign the previous year. However, the change in engine proved to have a disastrous effect on the car's performance. Plato failed to score a point in any of the first four race meetings of the season and his only visit to the podium that season came with a second-place finish in the first race at Croft, as part of a Subaru 1-2. Plato would only score a further nine points all season after this, finishing in 27th place with a paltry 26 points.

Power Maxed Racing (2019–2021)

On 20 February 2019, it was announced that Plato would be switching to Power Maxed Racing, driving in the factory-backed Vauxhall Astra.[6] He finished the championship in seventh place with a total of 237 points, with a win in the final race of the season. For 2020, the team chose not to compete as a full time team, but retained Plato for 2021.[7][8] 2021 saw the Vauxhall hampered by throttle linkage issues. Plato took one podium at the opening round at Thruxton, finishing the year in 14th place with 156 points.

BTC Racing (2022)

It was announced on 6 April 2022 that Plato would be joining BTC Racing for his 23rd and last season in the BTCC. He finished the year in 17th place, with a single podium at Snetterton.

Other racing

Plato competed in the Bathurst 1000 twice and the Sandown 500 once, but without any great success. His second attempt at Bathurst was with the Holden Racing Team and was driving with the late Peter Brock. Plato and Brock's race ended with Plato being involved in a crash which resulted in John Cleland's car rolling on to its roof.

In 1998, Plato took part in the Silverstone Rally Sprint, part of the British Rally Championship, driving a third works Renault Megane F2. He finished ninth, with co-driver Andy Wilman, (former) presenter and executive producer on Top Gear.

During his 2005 BTCC campaign, Plato competed in four rounds of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) for SEAT Sport. He achieved a second-place finish in race 2 of his home round FIA WTCC Race of UK at Silverstone. He also won a race and finished second overall in the 2005 European Touring Car Cup.

Plato often competes in historic racing and is a regular at the Goodwood Revival and Members meeting and teamed up with celebrity chef James Martin in a Ford Prefect and with Craig Davies in a Corvette Stingray for the 2012 event.[9]

Television career

Plato is a co-presenter for the Channel 5 British TV series Fifth Gear co-starring with Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and Jonny Smith. He previously co-presented Channel 4's motoring program 'Driven' alongside Mike Brewer, Penny Mallory and James May. Formerly with Tom Ford (presenter) as a fellow presenter, Plato appeared opposite Ford for an episode of Ready Steady Cook UK.

Plato was injured in a Caparo T1 supercar in October 2007 during filming for Fifth Gear at Bruntingthorpe proving ground. The car caught fire at an estimated 250 kilometres per hour (160 mph) and Plato described his injuries as follows:[10] "“The back of my neck is burnt and so are my face and hands. I obviously couldn’t take my hands off the steering wheel whilst braking and my right hand is more badly burnt than my left.'"Plato was taken from the scene by former BTCC driver Phil Bennett and after treatment at three hospitals, including Stoke Mandeville Hospital's specialist burns unit, Plato was able to compete in the following weekend's final race in the 2007 BTCC calendar. This incident was also mentioned on Top Gear, where Jeremy Clarkson called him a 'Baked Potato' after mispronouncing his name.[11]

Book

On 19 September 2019, Plato released his first autobiography titled How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver.[12][13] It was published by Penguin Books Ltd.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 1997–2002 all races, 2003–present just in first race, 2000–2003 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2001–present all races, 2000–2003 in class) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded – 1998–2002 just in feature races, 2003–present all races)

† Event with 2 races staged for the different classes. ‡ Retired before 2nd start of race.

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete V8 Supercar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results