Plato ousted from eponymous BTCC team

Jason Plato's eponymous British Touring Car Championship operation will see out the rest of the season in a different guise following his ousting from the team, it was revealed on Tuesday.

Murmurings of Cataclean Plato Racing's financial difficulties have been abundant after it was placed into administration on August 12. The team has been listed for sale by Pantera Valuation Services with the listing noting that the team has had £1,380,170 of overheads so far but a turnover of £545,073, making for an operating loss of £835,097.

While administration – comparatively Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the U.S. – has set off alarm bells, a statement from BTCC organizers TOCA has confirmed that the team will at least compete for the remainder of the season.

“Following (the) statement from Cataclean, TOCA confirms the team will continue competing in the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship under a new name and management structure, in order that it can move positively forward,” read the statement.

“The matters concerned are internal to the organization and relate solely to its directors, shareholders and relevant parties. TOCA is not privy to those matters.

“However, TOCA has been provided with assurances of the team’s participation in the BTCC going forward. Those assurances reflect Cataclean’s continuing commitment and confidence in both the team and the Championship.

“We understand that the program will operate through a new entity, without the further involvement of Jason Plato in its management or ownership.

“In the interim, the team will be entered as CPRL.”

UK government records show that title sponsor Cataclean owns “More than 50% but less than 75%” of the shares in the team.

Plato Racing arrived in the BTCC this season amid much fanfare. Helmed by record 97-time race winner Jason Plato, the team fielded a pair of Mercedes-AMG A35 Saloons for Dan Rowbottom and Adam Morgan.

After winning the first ‘Race To Pole’ qualifying race of the season at Donington Park with Rowbottom, the team's results, have fallen below the lofty expectations it set itself, with a third place for Rowbottom in Race 1 at Thruxton being the only podium for the team until the most recent race weekend at Knockhill.

In Scotland, and off the back of supposed damper developments, Morgan secured another pole for the team and backed that up by leading Rowbottom to its first one-two finish in the first championship race of the weekend. Morgan added another podium, a second place, in Race 3.

At the end of that weekend, speaking to RACER, Plato was optimistic of the team's chances going forwards saying, “This is a turning point. We've now got absolute correlation with our virtual simulation software, our chassis sim, we've now got correlation because we've been able to feed it data.

“Honestly, our setups this weekend were designed, created in the virtual world, and it's now starting to pay dividends. So now we've found where the sweet spot is. Now we're going to drill down to where the bullseye is. We're not there yet. It'll take a while to get there, but we have now made a big breakthrough in chassis dynamics, our damping, and also not discounting the efforts that M-Sport have put in. They've most certainly made performance inroads with the engine as well.”

CPRL will continue to field Morgan and Rowbottom in its pair of Mercedes, beginning at this weekend's meeting at Donington on the full GP layout.