JASON Plato is confident he can challenge for race wins this year as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gets under way at Brands Hatch today.

Two-time champion Plato, from Oxford, prepared for the new season in the best possible way as he topped the timesheets at the season launch official test at Donington Park.

After leaving MG last year, Plato has joined Team BMR alongside reigning champion Colin Turkington.

With identical Volkswagen CC engines, they are expected to lock horns over the coming year and Plato already has a slight upper hand after pipping Turkington by just 0.006secs at Donington.

Plato now heads to Brands Hatch in a confident frame of mind.

The 47-year-old said: “We’ll be on the pace at Brands.

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“If we’re not quickest we’ll be there or thereabouts and I think we can win races.”

However, despite topping the charts in testing, Plato revealed the day did not go totally to plan.

“We had an issue which cost us about an hour,” he said.

“It is a little frustrating as we had a plan of things we’re trying to get through and it’s left us with a couple of questions on the set-up that aren’t 100 per cent answered.”

He continued: “It was a good day though.

“The guys have had a tough six weeks.

“I think now it’s time to down tools, get everything ready and checked for Brands Hatch and make sure we don’t have any reliability issues.”

CHIPPING Norton’s Sean Walkinshaw says he can’t wait to get behind the wheel as he begins his Blancpain Sprint Series campaign at Nogaro Coupes De Pâques in France this weekend.

The MRS GT-Racing driver begins the most high-profile chapter of his racing career today and is hoping to make a big impression on the series’ pro-class.

“It should be a great season, I can’t wait,” said the 21-year-old.

“I’m really looking forward to getting my season underway at Nogaro.

“As far as my preparations have been going, everything has been great in testing.

“The car is quick and I think we should be in pretty good form at Nogaro.”

Walkinshaw, who competed in the Euro Formula Open in 2014, continued: “I’ve had four days in the car up to now.

“I’ve had to work on a different driving style but my team-mate has been really helping me along.”

Walkinshaw will share the driving duties with compatriot Craig Dolby.

In the recent test at Paul Ricard in France, they broke into the top five and were less than half a second off the outright pace.

On the first day they had recorded the seventh fastest time.

Walkinshaw added: “There are obviously quite a few changes for me to get used to this year, sharing the time in the car with your teammate and getting used to longer runs.

“Having said that, though, the Nogaro races are an hour each so that will mean 30-minute stints.”