Oxford's Jason Plato bids to extend his lead at the top of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship standings in the third round at Thruxton tomorrow.

Plato, who won two of the opening three races at Brands Hatch, saw his points advantage cut in round two at Donington Park.

Despite posting two podium places, the MG KX Momentum Racing driver is now just five points ahead of Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Banbury’s Will Bratt is seeking more power after finding the opening two rounds challenging in his WIX Racing Audi A4.

A fuel pump issue at Brands Hatch put him on the back foot, before he struggled with the set-up on his car at Donington Park, which left him short of straight-line speed.

“It was just so frustrating having your foot flat to the floor and still losing out by four or five car lengths by the end of the straight,” he said.

“At Brands Hatch we had lots of problems with the reliability that meant we missed the practice sessions and went into qualifying without any testing which isn’t ideal.”

Bratt, who is 18th in the standings with eight points, has been testing around the Silverstone International circuit this week.

And he added: “We made some good progress with the turbo cooling and handling.

“Hopefully they will find us some extra speed, as Thruxton will really show up any disparity in power against the other drivers.”

Standings (top ten): 1 J Plato 92 pts, 2 A Jordan 87, 3 M Neal 78, 4 S Tordoff 73, 5 G Shedden 72, 6 A Morgan 66, 7 C Turkington 59, 8 J Smith 53, 9 A Smith 34, 10 M Jackson 30.