"Back in those days it was two races to a day with two qualifying session and I was on pole for both races at
Donington Park and then took pole again at
Silverstone. My team-mate then [Alain Menu] was the yardstick and it was great as I was out there in the shop window and was proving that I was worthy of being there – so it was a massive highlight. I remember getting a call from Frank at home and not being able to tell who it was on a crackly line and saying ‘Who is it man, who is it?’ and he replied ‘It’s Frank you tosser, I just want to congratulate you’ and I remember things like that. They were great days at Williams and I learnt a huge amount and back at that point I was the only English driver racing for
Williams, including the
F1 team. Even though I wasn’t in the
Formula One team, I had access to Frank and Patrick Head and met a lot of great people and it was a very special time for me.
“But moving more to date, my debut win with SEAT in 2004 at
Thruxton was a wonderful time. The era I am in now with SEAT, and have been in since 2003 - when we first sat down together and there was nothing there, no Cupra championship, no team, nothing - has been really good as it wasn’t a case of getting a call to drive a car, it went way back from there. It is really nice to be enjoying the success that we have achieved in the short time we have been in the championship and I think I’ve been instrumental in the success so far. It is a different kind of joy to just turning up, jumping in the best car and going on to win. We started with nothing and look where we are now.”
Then and now:
The BTCC of 2007 is a world away from the BTCC of 1997 – with only Plato and double champion
Matt Neal remaining from the field that lined up ten years ago at the height of the Super Touring era.
![Jason Plato in action during his debut BTCC season with the Williams Renault team back in 1997 [Pic credit: Still Photographic]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/335857.jpg)
