JASON'S SILVER STAR

Jason Plato secured a record-breaking fifth Silver Star after a quite extraordinary hat trick of wins in the final round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday with his Racing Silverline Chevrolet Lacetti. The day began with Jason squeezing past Tom Chilton's vastly improved Ford Focus ST on the line to win the first race by literally inches (0.015 sec) in the closest finish ever in the BTCC. Only once before has a driver won all three BTCC races in a day (Dan Eaves at Thruxton) but Jason overcame the reverse grid for the final race to come through from eighth and take his seventh win of the season. He was followed over the line by a delighted Colin Turkington who won his first BTCC title with the Team RAC BMW 320si. Jason's amazing day may not have been quite enough to win the Championship but it produced one of the tightest Silver Star contests ever. His winning margin over Colin on the “best of 12” basis was 8 points. Had Colin finished first in the last race with Jason second, the Silver Star would have been Colin's by 2 points