Jason Plato has written off his chances of reclaiming the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after enduring a miserable time at Knockhill in Scotland.

The Oxford ace recorded two seventh places, before crashing out of race three when he was leading, following a collision between his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze and eventual winner Tom Boardman’s SEAT Leon.

Fourth-placed Plato is now 35 points behind championship leader Gordon Shedden, who won the second race. Tom Chilton took the opener.

“The championship is over, totally and utterly over now,” said a frustrated Plato.

STANDINGS

1 G Shedden 182 pts, 2 M Neal 181, 3 M Jackson 159, 4 J Plato 147, 5 J Nash 135, 6 A Jordan 121, 7 T Chilton 98, 8 R Collard 91, 9 A MacDowall 74, 10 T Boardman 55.

CHIPPING Norton’s Fergus Walkinshaw recorded his best Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup finish, taking his self-built Ginetta G55 to fifth in class in round 19 on a day of mixed fortunes at Knockhill.

A crash with Leslie Corner’s car put the Oxford Brookes University student out of the running for round 18.

After rebuilding the car he took his best class result in round 19 despite a clutch failure.

But a split carbon intake ruined his round 20 chances.