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WILL THERE BE A BIRTHDAY BONUS FOR DT?
12/04/2008
While Darren will celebrate his 34th birthday on Sunday, his team mate, Jason Plato, will be making his 250th British Touring Car Championship start at Rockingham so the 13th April will be a big day for both SEAT Sport UK drivers. The icing on the (birthday) cake would be if either driver took the Holiday Inn-backed Leon TDI to its first BTCC victory.
Jason has made 249 starts in a BTCC career that began in 1997, and the 2001 Champion is also rapidly approaching another milestone, as he is just 53 points shy of 2,000 BTCC career points. The 38-times race winner has a good record at Rockingham, and last year finished 3rd, 5th and 1st in the three races there.
Darren made his BTCC race debut in 2006, and will pass his own milestone of 50 races at Rockingham. The former BRDC/McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award winner set the pace at Rockingham last year, recording fastest times in both free practice sessions and qualifying on pole. As the grid formed for the opening race, an electrical problem saw his SEAT Leon stall and, unable to restart the engine, it was pushed to one side. Darren then produced the drive of the day to come from 25th on the grid to finish 6th in race two, before scoring a well deserved podium in race three.
The new Leon TDI showed great reliability on its BTCC race debut at Brands Hatch, scoring two podium results on its first two races. The forthcoming rounds of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship will pose new challenges for the SEAT Sport UK team, as it has no previous experience of running the diesel-engined car around the 12-turn circuit, which includes the only banked corner on the BTCC calendar. The drivers and engineers will once again have to work closely to find a competitive set-up and unlock the potential of the Leon TDI in both qualifying and race set-ups.
Darren said: "It's very hard to say how we'll get on at Rockingham, and that's going to be the case at every new circuit we go to this year. The Leon TDI is so different to the petrol-engined Leon, we'll be starting each first free practice session with pretty much a blank piece of paper in terms of what set-up works the best. We've improved the top speed of the car, so the long fast section between the final corner and turn two should be good for us, but the twisty infield section isn't too dissimilar to Brands Hatch.
"Over the course of a lap we should be competitive at Rockingham, but I don't think we'll have an advantage or be at a disadvantage – which is the way it should be for the fans who want to see good, close racing."
Rounds 4, 5 and 6 of the BTCC take place on Sunday 13th April, with the three 16-lap races around the 1.94 mile International Super Sports Car Circuit starting at 11.20, 13.25 and 16.45. ITV4 will have extensive live coverage, with non-stop viewing on race day between 12.30pm-5.30pm. Highlights will be broadcast later the same evening on ITV4 and on ITV1 on Monday 14th April (check local TV listings for details).
Darren, 34, lives near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Successful in many different categories of motorsport, taking wins, podiums and points at almost every outing, he's going all out for 2008 BTCC success. He remains a firm favourite with teams, fans, and media alike.
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