Three SEAT Sport UK Leons for BTCC decider
October 5th, 2007 | by Ed | 
After weeks of planning, SEAT Sport UK will enter three racing Leons for the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship finale at Thruxton on Sunday 14th October, as the team aims to win back-to-back Manufacturer titles, the Teams’ title and the Drivers’ title with Jason Plato. Alongside Jason – the 2001 Champion, who goes into the final race weekend 9 points ahead in the series – will be his regular team-mate Darren Turner and BTCC debutant Tom Coronel, the FIA World Independent Touring Car Champion.
Jason is the only driver to have scored points in all 27 races this season and took the lead of the series after winning the opening round in April. This year he has won 6 races, stood on the podium 15 times and become the secondmost race winning driver in the history of the BTCC with 38 wins. In his 243 BTCC race career, in which he has scored 1889 points, the next three races are the most important – as he tries to lift the BTCC Drivers’ title for the second time on his 40th birthday.
With top straight-line speeds of 155mph and Church, the fastest corner on the BTCC calendar, taken at over
130mph, Thruxton is a spectacular venue to host this exciting season finale. It’s the second visit of the season to the Hampshire track and back in May Jason’s main Championship rival, Fabrizio Giovanardi, scored 9 points more than Jason did there. However, it was a less than perfect race weekend for Jason – and despite problems in both free practice sessions and a drive through penalty in Race 2 (which dropped him from 2nd to 19th in the race), he fought back to end the first Thruxton meeting of the season with a race win.
As Championship leader, Jason’s Leon will start the final race weekend carrying the maximum 45kgs of success ballast, while Giovanardi’s Vauxhall Vectra will be 9kgs lighter.
Jason’s two team-mates will play a vital role. In his first full BTCC season, Darren has won 3 races and stood on the podium 6 times. He has also beaten Giovanardi on 7 occasions, twice in the last 3 races, and qualified on pole twice – and doing so again could help Jason lift the Drivers’ title, as he’ll be taking valuable points off Jason’s main rival. Darren is currently 6th in the Drivers’ standings and will therefore start the Thruxton race weekend with no success ballast and the aim of finishing the season 4th in the series.
Tom will drive the third SEAT Sport UK entered Leon which will come directly from the SEAT Sport workshop in
Barcelona. As a newcomer to the series, the Dutchman will carry 45kgs of weight handicap. Having never contested a round of the BTCC before, he has no history with any rival team or driver in the series, yet he knows Jason well and his colourful character will fit in perfectly with the style in which SEAT Sport UK goes racing. As one of the well established WTCC front-runners, Tom doesn’t come to Thruxton for the first time with a personal point to prove, yet he has vast experience of racing a SEAT Leon and is renowned for quickly learning new circuits (and whilst Thruxton is very fast, it is not technically one of the most difficult). Tom’s role will be to drive as fast as he can, record as many points scoring results as he can and finish ahead of the three Vauxhalls (driven by Giovanardi, Tom Chilton and Alain Menu), as the three Leons establish a level playing field.
With just 3 points separating SEAT (561 points) and Vauxhall (564 points) at the top of the BTCC Manufacturers’ table, it’s a straight fight for the title. Only two nominated cars are eligible to score points, and barring severe accident damage or a similar unforeseen mishap in Saturday’s three sessions, Jason and Darren will drive those nominated cars on race day.
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