Jason Plato’s hopes of winning the MSA British Touring Car Championship took a big knock when he failed to secure a podium finish during the penultimate round at Silverstone.

The Oxford driver went into the weekend’s three races only six points behind leader Gordon Shedden in the standings, but with a best-finish of fourth place, he now trails by 23 going into the final round at Brands Hatch on October 10-11.

Plato, driving for Team BMR RCIB Insurance, endured a miserable start as his Volkswagen first suffered with engine trouble before a puncture sent him spiralling out of contention.

The 47-year-old had to wait until the final race, before securing any points, as he managed to nudge his way into fourth place.

Plato said: “We improved the car for race three but didn’t get the rub of the green at the start.

“There’s no getting around it – a 23-point gap is not good – but we all know anything can happen in this game and it can all turn around on a sixpence.

“We had bad luck in race one with the puncture, and that can happen to anyone.

“Honda are a great team and Gordon [Shedden] is a tasty driver so he’s not going to be far off, even if we’re out front winning races.”

Drivers’ standings: 1 G Shedden 325pts, 2 J Plato 302, 3 C Turkington 293, 4 M Neal 288.

l Oxford driver Matt Chapman delivered one of the best performances of his career at Silverstone after impressively slicing his way through from the back of the grid to claim sixth place in round 18 of the Ginetta Junior Championship.

Starting from 21st on the grid, Chapman stormed through the field following a safety car period, into the top ten by lap ten and gained four more places before the chequered flag after lap 12.