btcc:action >> Teams >> SEAT Sport UK
SEAT Sport UK |
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2008 Drivers: #11 Jason Plato, #12 Darren Turner |
Latest SEAT News Round 25: Plato takes 8th win of season |
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Formed: 2004 BTCC Debut: Thruxton, 11 April 2004 BTCC Races: 127* BTCC Wins: 33* BTCC Podiums: 87* Website: www.seatsportuk.co.uk Team Principal: Grant Clearwater & Ian Fisher Based: Brackmills, Northamptonshire 2008 Cars: SEAT Leon TDi (x2) * after Round 6 2008 |
THE SEAT Sport UK team has been run in the BTCC by Northern South since the manufacturers second season in 2005. When the Spanish manufacturer first entered the series the previous year it was the first team in the BTCC to run to the new Super 2000 regulations. With then drivers Jason Plato and Robert Huff, the team made extensive use of the reverse grid rules enabling Plato to take seven wins during the season in a car that wasn't as outright fast as its rivals machines. | |||
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| Team operators Northern South, based in Northamptonshire, was formed in 2000 by New Zealander Grant Clearwater and Brit Ian Fisher and was initially predominantly involved in rallying preparation. The involvement with SEAT dates back further than those first steps in the BTCC, however, as the team ran SEAT rally entries and worked with the marque on its track day cars. This partnership lead to the company being selected to run all of the cars for the SEAT Cupra Championship, a BTCC support category that began its first season in 2003. |
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| The prize for the winning driver of the SEAT Cupra Championship at the time was a fully funded drive for the works BTCC team the following year. As a result 2003 Cupra champion Rob Huff stepped up to partner series returnee Jason Plato for the 2004 BTCC season as the team prepared to run a brace of cars built by SEAT in Martorell, Barcelona with technical support from SEAT in the ETCC.
The first season for SEAT was nothing less than impressive, with a combined total of 9 wins out of 30 races and winning in only the car's second race. The team had hoped that such momentum would carry forward to their second season, but this ultimately did not prove to be the case. The SEAT team was initally run in 2004 with support from RML, but when Chevrolet selected RML to run its cars in the WTCC a new partner needed to be found for the BTCC effort. As a result for 2005 the marque joined forces with Northern South, who had experience running the SEAT Cupra Championship, to be the teams preparation outfit. Despite expanding to three cars for 2005, for Plato, Luke Hines and '04 SEAT Cupra winner James Pickford, the season only merited 4 victories. The team believed the base weight of Super 2000 cars to be too heavy under the equivalency rules set out by the BTCC that allowed S2000 and BTC Cars to run competitively alongside each other. Since 2004 the BTC teams had lost 25 kilos of weight whilst SEAT shed none, leaving the team to ponder what could have been. Not only this, but with the aerodynamics of the BTC class bieng more efficient, SEAT struggled to get on terms with their rivals as the slippery Honda Integra BTC car took the title under Matt Neal. The team moved on to the New and larger Leon for the 2006 season which instantly brought about improved performances. Although losing out to Matt Neal again in the drivers championship, Jason Plato took second in the title race whilst the manufacturer scooped up the coveted Manufacturers Title from Vauxhall. Second in the teams championship was also an improvement over the previous year and the groundwork was set for further development of the Leon. | ||||
BTCC Seasons
| 2008: | British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK (Works), SEAT Leon TDi S2000 |
| 2007: | British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK (Works), SEAT Leon S2000 1st Teams Championship, 2nd Manufacturers Championship, 2nd Drivers Championship (Jason Plato) |
| 2006: | British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK (Works), SEAT Leon S2000 2nd Teams Championship, 1st Manufacturers Championship, 2nd Drivers Championship (Jason Plato) |
| 2005: | British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK (Works), SEAT Toledo S2000 3rd Teams Championship, 2nd Manufacturers Championship, 4th Drivers Championship (Jason Plato) |
| 2004: | British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK (Works), SEAT Toledo S2000 2nd Teams Championship, 3rd Manufacturers Championship, 3rd Drivers Championship (Jason Plato) |
| Archive categories: |  |
Drivers Championship
Final 2008 Standings| Pos. | Driver | Pts |
| 1. | F Giovanardi | 262 |
| 2. | Mat Jackson | 226 |
| 3. | Jason Plato | 223 |
| 4. | Colin Turkington | 212 |
| 5. | Matt Neal | 185 |
| 6. | T Onslow-Cole | 170 |
| 7. | Gordon Shedden | 144 |
| 8. | Darren Turner | 133 |
| 9. | Adam Jones | 119 |
| 10. | Tom Chilton | 107 |
| 11. | Steven Kane | 86 |
| 12. | Robert Collard | 84 |
| 13. | Andrew Jordan | 56 |
| 14. | Mike Jordan | 34 |
| 15. | Stephen Jelley | 14 |
| 16. | Michael Doyle | 5 |
| 17. | Matt Allison | 3 |
| 17. | Chris Stockton | 3 |
| 19. | Harry Vaulkhard | 2 |
| 19. | Jason Hughes | 2 |
| 21. | Erkut Kizilirmak | 1 |
| 21. | John George | 1 |
Manufacturer's C'ship
| Pos. | Make | Pts |
| 1. | Vauxhall | 697 |
| 2. | Seat | 545 |
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