BTCC boss hits out at Plato's "borderline offensive" criticisms

Plato, who won on his 500th start in the BTCC at Knockhill this past weekend, raised questions over the existing engine equivalence rules due to his Subaru Levorg's relative pace to other cars in the championship.

"We’ve got two not bad drivers in me and Colin [Turkington], two not bad engineers, we have a £2.5 million programme here and no weight; and a BMW with 66kg of weight is setting the same time as us," Plato said.

But the BTCC veteran's comments have triggered a fierce rebuttal from Gow, who insisted Plato complaint was "borderline offensive".

"I’m just astounded at this latest round of moaning by Jason," Gow said in a statement.

"The fact of the matter is that he and his team would not be at anywhere near their current performance level, had it not been for the efforts of TOCA, all the BTCC teams and the Engine Technical Review Panel (ETRP).

"As their performances at the first two events highlighted, their inlet manifold originally homologated was just not capable of delivering the engine performance that their boost level was set to give.

"They would have had no choice but to make do with what they had for three years – the engine regulations state that certain major components, such as the inlet manifold, cannot be changed for a three-year period.

"But purely through the good graces of TOCA, along with all competing BTCC teams and engine builders agreeing to it, they were given a waiver and the unique opportunity of correcting their performance issue. Since fitting this new manifold and camshaft their performances have been nothing short of extraordinary."

Team BMR's Subaru Levorgs did indeed struggle for results in the first few rounds of their debut BTCC season, as none of the cars finished higher than 10th in the first six races - and all four machines were forced to withdraw from Thruxton on safety grounds.

Since then, however, Plato and teammate Colin Turkington have combined for four wins and 15 podiums.

Gow continued: "For Jason to still complain and infer that they have not been given the 'right level of performance' is simply bizarre. It’s actually borderline offensive – not only to TOCA, but to all other BTCC teams and engine builders who all agreed to assist them.

"Had it not been for this unique cooperation and agreement, their car would have remained far less competitive than it now is.

“With their current level of success I would have thought Jason would be thanking TOCA, the teams and the engine builders… but sadly not and he has prodded this subject too often for me to just sit back and not respond.

"However, I will be interested to hear if the thoughts of Team BMR Subaru also reflect those of Jason's."