Can Astras continue to dominate in the dark?...

A pair of class wins for Yvan Muller last time out puts him 12 points clear in the driver standings going into round 7 of the www.theaa.com British Touring Car Championship. Fellow Astra drivers Jason Plato and Phil Bennett will be hoping to fair better than at Oulton Park, where their cars both suffered uncharacteristic mechanical failures. Remaining Astra man James Thompson will also be looking to finish strongly at a circuit he won at last year.

Tim Harvey once more takes to the wheel of the Alfa he piloted to a superb 3rd place in round 6. The JSM player / manager couldn’t hide his delight at the cars performance in his maiden outing, and fans will be eager to see whether another battle with the Peugeot 406 Coupe’s will unfurl at Silverstone. The cars seemed similarly matched but Harvey hinted that there was still a lot more to come from the Alfa. JSM will be pleased if their 2 cars finish both races having had some reliability problems and can set about developing the car further.

Meanwhile at the VLR camp – all concerned must be wondering when their luck will change after a dismal start to the 2001 season. Despite the technical problems that Steve Soper and Dan Eaves have encountered of late, progression in the cars development has another chance to be judged at Silverstone this weekend. Pre-season talk from Peugeot about a 1st BTCC Touring class race win has so far proved fruitless. Points have been hard to come by to date, and Silverstone may be the launch pad they need to motivate the team to achieving that goal.

Kurt Luby has won many fans since the 1st appearance of the Lexus at Thruxton. The car is rapidly developing into a strong race machine and Luby provided some wonderful moments at Oulton Park, notably an amazing start to the sprint race. ABG motorsport are still a few races away from fielding their second IS200 - to be driven by Thomas Erdos.

Can anybody halt the run of Vauxhall wins? Were there reliability questions over the Astra at Oulton Park? Could Peugeot finally put in a performance to boost their morale? Will Alfa Romeo or Lexus throw more spanners into the works?

As darkness falls and the temperature drops on Saturday, look and listen out carefully. Things can go bump in the night.