RML miracle work reduces Plato to tears

Jason Plato has revealed that the work of the RML team was enough to reduce him to tears after it battled hard to ensure he was able to salvage points from the second meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park.

Plato had finished outside the points after a puncture in race one and was then sent into a barrel roll after Gordon Shedden tagged the Ford of Liam Griffin - who in turn hit Plato - coming down the Craner Curves at the start of race two.

The defending champion described his Chevrolet Cruze as '?250,000 of scrap metal' following the race but the RML team - with help from staff at the event as spectators - was able to patch the car up for race three, where Plato came through to finish sixth and score crucial points towards his championship tally.

"It was amazing," he said. "You can see the passion in everybody, there were seriously tears in our eyes, including mine. To turn that car around and get it on the grid for race three looked an impossible task, but they did it and that makes RML the best team out there.

"That is teamwork. To see their commitment makes up for all the bad weekends we'll ever have. That was real emotion out there today."

Team manager Rod Underwood also praised the team for its work in the two hours between the race two and race three, where Plato's team-mate Alex MacDowall also finished inside the points in fourth.

"That was a tremendous effort from the whole team to get the car on the grid," he said. "We thought it near impossible, but RML will never give up and the guys put in 110 per cent.

"For both cars to finish in the points is just reward for the hardwork and Jason's sixth place will be greatly celebrated by us all, given how it looked post race two."