Oxford's Jason Plato was reduced to tears by his team’s efforts to repair his mangled car after his dramatic 120mph crash in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.

His Silverline Chevrolet Cruze was ‘written off’ after it had left the track and barrel- rolled at the start of race two in the second round of the series.

It happened following contact from Airwaves’ Liam Griffin, who had been sent into a spin after a brush with Gordon Shedden.

Instead of turning left down the Craner Curves, Plato’s car veered right over the infield and into a bank before rolling over three times.

Even the 43-year-old reigning champion himself descri-bed the remains of his car as “£250,000 worth of scrap metal”.

Plato, who walked away unscathed, said: “That was a big shunt – I think it was three rolls? As soon as the impact came, that was it.

“Needless to say, it was bitterly frustrating for me, but I’m OK.”

But miraculously within two hours the RML crew that had prepared the car had stripped and rebuilt it – enabling him to compete in race three.

From a lowly starting position, he came through to cross the line in a highly-emotional sixth.

“It was amazing,” said Plato. “It looked an impossible task and the car looked like a Transformer.

“But the lads were just amazing – you could see the passion in everybody.

“They’re the best racing team in the world, forget F1. That was teamwork.

“I had tears in my eyes, they had tears in their eyes and to see their commitment makes up for all the bad weekends we’ll ever have. There was real emotion out there.”

It later transpired that two RML staff members – watching at Donington as spectators on a day off – also ran to their team’s aid to help the mechanics pull off their miracle repair job.

Team manager Rod Underwood added: “We had to give it our best shot.

“We didn’t think there was a hope of getting the car out at first, but somehow it all came together and we did it.

“I’m still not quite sure how – two hours to fully rebuild a car when most of it was broken. . .”

It saw an action-packed day for Plato end on a high note.

He had suffered a puncture in the first race won by Matt Neal.

Race two went to Andrew Jordan, with Mat Jackson taking race three.