Jason Plato described the decision to punish him retrospectively for a British Touring Car Championship incident at Snetterton as "a kick in the goolies".

The 33-year-old from Oxford arrived at Croft for Sunday's action to learn that he had been demoted from second to third in round 16 for punting Phil Bennett off during a night race at the Norfolk circuit.

It meant a four-point swing in the title standings, with two points docked from Plato's tally and added to the total of his Vauxhall teammate Yvan Muller, leaving the duo joint top of the table.

And with the championship race looking like it could go all the way to the final event of the season at Brands Hatch in October, the penalty could prove extremely costly.

Honours were split relatively evenly at Croft, with Plato and Muller each bagging a victory and a second place but the Frenchman opened up a three-point gap because he notched up more bonuses.

Yet Plato was still hurting from the points loss which he insisted had been the result of "nothing sinister" on his part.

Plato said: "It's disappointing to lose points. There was nothing sinister in what I did. You have to remember it was wet and dark that night at Snetterton.

"Phil put a good move on me to get past, but I genuinely thought it would lead to him going off the track.

"That's why I held my line, and I've no remorse about that, but I ended up running into the back of him and pushing him down the road, which I am sorry about.

"But to come back a week later and find I've been deducted points for something that was a genuine mistake is a kick in the goolies."

It was Bennett's turn to be on the receiving end of stewards' action at Croft after he got involved in a barging match with several other drivers during the feature event.

The 29-year-old was given a one-race ban, ruling him out of the Oulton Park sprint at the end of the month.

Bennett is the only one of Vauxhall's four representatives who is out of the title reckoning and Plato believes it could go to the wire.

"I hope it does go all the way," said Plato. "At the moment, it looks as though if Yvan or I have one failure to finish, it will hand the initiative to the other in a big way.

"There really is nothing in it and whoever comes out on top at the end of the season will be a worthy champion."