James Pickford was the star of the SEAT Sport UK team at the BTCC race weekend at Snetterton. Fast in all sessions, he drove a brilliant third and final race to hold off much more experienced drivers to finish 2nd – his first BTCC podium finish of his career. His awesome drive enabled Jason Plato to pull away and together they brought home the team’s first one-two race finish of the season.

SEAT Sport UK came away from Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton with plenty to celebrate - its first one-two race victory of the season, James Pickford’s first ever BTCC podium, all three Toledo Cupras starting from the top three positions on the grid and Jason Plato ending the weekend on a high with a win in the third and final race of the day!

James shone throughout the weekend. He set 6th fastest time in qualifying only to have his times scrapped because he failed to stop at the weighbridge. He then charged from 14th on the grid to finish 6th in Round 19, set several fastest laps during the weekend and held off Yvan Muller in Round 21 to finish 2nd and record his first ever BTCC podium.

Jason Plato said: “I think James drove an excellent race and we should all congratulate him because he soaked up a lot of pressure from Yvan, who’s a canny old fox and it’s not easy thing to keep him back especially as I think the Vauxhall had a lot more pace than James’ car. It’s a great result and important for the team. We can’t forget however that we won that race because we had three cars starting at the front of the grid and we were only up there because we played the reverse grid card. We just don’t have the pace to compete with the BTCC spec. cars as they are far too light. We’re about half a second a lap off where we need to be, and that’s not us it’s the regulations I’m afraid, so we’re still going to go to the next race with our hands tied behind our backs unless something changes.”

James said: “It’s long overdue but I feel wonderful! It’s absolutely fabulous to have my first BTCC podium, especially a one-two up there side by side with Jason. Two laps from the end Yvan Muller and Matt Neal were closing in on me and I just kept my head down. You can’t get much more pressure than having a guy like Muller behind you and I think that I dealt with it quite well really, so I’m over the moon. I worked really hard for that. There were a couple of times when I thought that Yvan was on his way through but he made a few mistakes and that gave me the break I needed. I just said to myself ‘don’t look behind you, keep on looking forward’ and that’s harder said than done! I drove the car so hard and was so far on the limit that I nearly went off three or four times.

“I’ve not raced at Snetterton since 2001 and that was in a single seater, so I didn’t know what to expect driving a saloon car here for the first time - so to get that result is just brilliant. It’s given me a bit more confidence and we’ll go to the last few races stronger and looking for wins. This is brilliant because the team’s worked so hard and it’s exactly what they needed to give them a lift. The only reason it’s only taken this long to get this result is because the other cars out on the grid are too light. If that was put right we’d be up there fighting as this is where SEAT should rightfully be.”

2005 BTCC points (after Round 21)

Drivers
1. Matt Neal….234pts
2. Yvan Muller….218pts
3. Dan Eaves….207pts
4. Jason Plato….152pts
5. Colin Turkington….136pts
6. Tom Chilton….119pts
7. Rob Collard….119pts
8. James Pickford….76pts
9. Luke Hines….52pts
10. Gavin Smith….48pts
11. James Kaye….41pts

Manufacturers
1. Vauxhall….584pts
2. SEAT….484pts

Teams
1. Team Halfords….424pts
2. VX Racing….354pts
3. SEAT Sport UK….244pts
4. WSR….119pts
5. Arena Motorsports….103pts