Plato: Race one tactics aren't rocket science.

The debate over tactics in the BTCC rages on after Jason Plato again manipulated the finishing positions of race one to gain a better grid slot for race two.

While Anthony Reid was out front collecting his first win of the season for MG, Plato was involved in a battle of his own with the Team Sureterm Astra of Stefan Hodgetts to see who could take tenth, Plato 'losing out' at the end by taking the chequered flag first for ninth - a result still good enough for the front row of the race two grid.

With Hodgetts then hitting problems off the line at the start of the race, Plato was able to get ahead of the field, the unballasted Toledo Cupra leading home Rob Huff for a 1-2 finish for the SEAT Sport UK team.

After the race, Plato told Crash.net that he was only being professional in doing what he does in race one.

"We sacrifice the first race for knowledge, to take weight off the car and get a good grid slot for the second race," he said. "I don't know why the other teams don't do it, it's not rocket science. We don't have the pace of the Vauxhalls to win the first race, so why put ourselves on the back foot for the rest of the weekend?

"SEAT have got a lot of exposure on TV. Me and Rob are professional drivers and we're employed by a manufacturer. The reason they are in motorsport is to build a brand, to build the image of that brand and to get exposure and that's exactly what we are doing. We are just being professional."

However WSR driver Reid doesn't totally agree with Plato and his views that the SEAT couldn't beat the Vauxhall in a straight race - especially after Plato led home a second 1-2 finish for the team in race three.

Reid may have taken the race one win but it left him starting tenth on the grid for race two. But would he rather have had the win or gone for pole?

"It's interesting, there are lots of different angles there," Reid said. "When their [SEAT] car wasn't so competitive it was clear Plato was doing to showboat by taking tenth place to get pole for the second race, so I suppose from a publicity angle that's great. From a championship point of view, that strategy didn't look too clever.

"Now the car is competitive it starts to make a lot more sense, basically because the top teams like WSR, VX Racing and SEAT are all very close - it's very tight at the sharp end. There is a manufacturers points system to try and create winners, but now it's causing other problems as we are all capable of winning.

"Maybe now is the time to start looking more at strategy."

VX Racing's James Thompson was another to give his views on the idea of strategy after the meeting.

Although he admits that throwing away a good result in the first race to capitalise in the second does appear to work, it's not the right choice for everybody.

"SEAT's strategy of throwing the first race to capitalise on the second and third obviously works," he said, "but Yvan and I can't get involved in that because of the championship situation."

Never mind betting on a winner, who wants to put money on the battle for tenth in race one at Knockhill in a fortnight...