Plato admits to Snetterton frustration.

Jason Plato was left somewhat frustrated with the events of the opening race at Snetterton last weekend after an incident with Matt Neal set the scene for a tough seventh meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season.

The SEAT driver headed into the weekend with a lead of 25 points over nearest rival Fabrizio Giovanardi but was unable to repeat the kind of form that saw him win twice at the Norfolk circuit last season to extend his lead.

Indeed, having qualified in eighth place, Plato was unable to make the most of a demon start in race one when he was hit by Neal's Honda Civic at the first corner in a coming together reminiscent of the one the pair had at Oulton Park earlier in the season which forced Plato wide and dropped him down the order before he eventually

Having battled to third in race two, Plato then took fourth in race three but having finished behind Giovanardi in each race, he saw his lead cut to 14 points heading to the next round at Brands Hatch.

"We are frustrated but that is normal when things don't go well," he reflected to Crash.net Radio. "We have to look on the positive side and while we have lost some points, we are still leading by 14 points which is nearly a full win. It's just frustrating that it could have been so different and the incident in race one has had a big effect on our weekend as had Matt not fired me off, I probably would have been in the top four and ahead of Fabrizio. I'd probably have been ahead of him in race two and then see what happens in race three. The race one incident has had quite a bit effect on our weekend but we can't undo what has been done.

"Yet again it is another Matt Neal manoeuvre and he does this all the time. He did it at Oulton Park, I went round the outside of him at Redgate at Donington and he hit me then. I don't do that sort of manoeuvre, Fabrizio doesn't, Turkington doesn't do them, Onslow-Cole doesn't, Darren Turner doesn't and yet there is always a common denominator who drives like an amateur."