Jason Plato regained the lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after three top-four finishes at Snetterton.

The 47-year-old, from Oxford, headed to Norfolk ten points behind Gordon Shedden, but opened up a 16-point lead with four rounds to go.

Plato scored two podiums and came fourth in the second race as his Team BMR teammate Colin Turkington ignited his championship defence with a double victory.

And the two-time British champion is in a confident mood ahead of Knockhill, near Dunfermline, on August 22-23.

Plato said: “It’s nice to be at the top of the standings, I think we can be stronger than people might think at Knockhill.

“It’s definitely a BMW circuit, which is good because it will take points off some of our championship rivals. “We’ll definitely be in the mix.”

Plato qualified third for the first race as Team BMR locked out the front three slots on the grid.

A ballast-laden Plato was unable to challenge Turkington and settled for third.

In the second race, Plato took fourth, before battling his way to second in the third where he was fended off by MG Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff, who took his first BTCC victory.

RESULTS

Race 1: 1 C Turkington, 2 A Smith, 3 J Plato, 4 A Jordan.

Race 2: 1 C Turkington, 2 A Morgan, 3 A Priaulx, 4 J Plato.

Race 3: 1 J Goff, 2 J Plato, 3 A Priaulx, 4 S Tordoff.

Standings: 1 J Plato 230pts, 2 C Turkington 214, 3 G Shedden 198, 4 S Tordoff 191, 5 A Jordan 189, 6 M Neal 188.

Oxford teenager Matt Chapman was also in action at Snetterton and battled from the back of the grid to finish 11th in the Ginetta Junior Championship.

A grid penalty saw Champman start from 24th, but he scythed his way through the field, making up 13 places, to finish 0.023secs shy of the top ten.