Plato was called onto the weighbridge after pitting for fresh tyres, but the rules state that the car must go onto the weighbridge with its engine turned off. Unluckily for Plato, he was unable to turn the Leon off before allowing its turbo to cool down.
As lap times tumbled for his rivals, Plato spent around two minutes waiting for the turbo to cool before he could go onto the weighbridge and then return to the session - without having time to stop and take on the new tyres that he was pitting for in the first place.
Jason reckons he lost five laps with the whole incident, although his chance of a late run for pole was ended by a red flag - leaving him fourth on the grid for the season opener.
Saturday pm – Keep friends close, enemies closer...
It sounded a bit weird when Martyn Bell revealed that his deal to join Arkas Racing had come about following the
Snetterton event last season – considering that that was the weekend where he made contact on track with his new team-mate Erkut.
That was until Erkut revealed the real reason behind his decision to team up with his fellow privateer...
"I was sat in the field at Snetterton and I thought it was better to have a driver who could be dangerous to me in the team so I could keep an eye on him!" he said. "If someone else knocks me off this season, then maybe we'll have three cars next year...
"Seriously though, it's good to have a team-mate as we can compare data and things like that and work together. We are a young team in the BTCC and want to move forward."
Pre-season testing hasn't really gone to plan for the Turkish driver – although that's more because of the fact he hasn't had chance to do any due to his business commitments.
"I've not been in the car since
Thruxton so I'm a bit rusty," he said. "Two sessions isn't long for me to get used to the car again, so I need to ease myself back into the swing of things. I know the car and I know most of the tracks now, so there can be no excuses this season.
"And it might sound stupid standing here in the rain, but its good to be back in this country."
Saturday pm – Harry bottles it
Second practice saw Harry Vaulkhard in the wars, after spinning his Chevrolet Lacetti early on at Surtees and ending up down in 18th place on the timesheets.
