Thompson Takes Double Pole And Championship Lead

Local hero James Thompson secured two authoritative pole positions this afternoon, ahead of Rounds 11 and 12 of the Green Flag 2002 MSA British Touring Car Championship at Croft Circuit, near Darlington, tomorrow. The additional championship points for pole position mean that the Vauxhall Motorsport driver takes the championship lead by one point. Team mate Yvan Muller will line up alongside Thompson for both the Sprint and Feature races, ahead of the impressive Honda Racing pairing of Andy Priaulx and Alan Morrison, who claimed the second row.

The double pole was particularly satisfying for Thompson, who lost five championship points at the previous championship round for an additional engine change – and who suffered recurring gearbox problems in both free practice sessions this morning.

As Thompson said:

“I’m very pleased with today, particularly as we’d not run a single trouble-free lap up until qualifying. To be honest we still don’t know what the problem was with the gearbox, but the team replaced the unit and that seems to have done the trick. I’m confident that we could have gone a bit faster in each segment, even with our 30kgs of ballast, so I’m pretty confident for the races tomorrow.”

Muller pulled out all the stops in the first segment to claim second position, having thumped the tyres at Clervaux on his first flying lap. After a fairly lengthy pit stop to repair damaged bodywork and suspension parts, the Flying Frenchman immediately went second quickest, but was unable to challenge Thompson’s time for the Sprint race. A terrific effort in the second part of qualifying – again belying the fact that Muller was carrying the maximum success ballast (42kgs) - saw Muller get to within 7/100ths of a second of pole but he had to give best to his team mate.

Arguably Thompson’s biggest threat throughout the qualifying session came from Honda Racing’s Andy Priaulx. Holding pole at the start of both qualifying segments, Priaulx displayed the ever-improving form of the Civic Type-R, with team mate Morrison shadowing his times. A terrific session from both drivers culminated in Honda securing the second row of the grid for both races, with Priaulx impressively just 16/100th of a second off pole for the Feature race.

MG Sport and Racing lines up fifth for both races, Anthony Reid claiming the position for the first race and Warren Hughes for the second. Hughes, who had in fact gone fourth quickest with just three minutes to go, was demoted on the very last lap by the on-form Morrison.

Matt Neal, Egg Sport, lines up sixth for both races, having incurred similar damage to Muller at Clervaux corner and then being frustrated with traffic in the latter part of the session. Team mate Paul O’Neill had an even more torrid time, claiming 14th and 9th positions.

It was a story of mixed fortunes in the Team Halfords camp; Dan Eaves was pleased to secure two grid slots in the top ten, but team mates Tim Harvey and Carl Breese will start both races from the back of the grid – Harvey due to a new engine installation and Breese due to a technical infringement. Team Petronas Syntium Proton’s Phil Bennett will line up alongside them for the Feature race, engine dramas in the first segment forcing his retirement from the session, as will Tom Chilton for Barwell Motorsport. Chilton received outside help following a minor technical problem at the end of the first segment and was therefore not allowed to participate in Feature race qualifying.

Fellow Independent Cup outfit, Team Atomic Kitten, experienced similar mixed fortunes to Team Halfords - Colin Turkington just shy of a top six grid position for the Sprint race whilst Gareth Howell struggled all session with an ill-handling car, following damper problems inherited from the earlier free practice session.

Harrogate based James Kaye also managed to pull out the stops for the local crowd by claiming pole for the Sprint race with a time of 1:30.450 and second position on the grid for the Feature race. The current BTC Production Drivers’ championship leader refused to surrender his lead despite being forced to carry a permanent additional 30kg of success ballast in his Honda Civic Type-R on top of the minimum base weight, compared to his Production rivals.

Kaye said:

“I am made up that I am on pole for the Sprint race at my local circuit. I am second behind Pyper for the Feature race but I do not intend to stay there. I respect the decision made by the TOCA officials to increase my minimum weight ballast but I don’t have to like it. It is flattering really – they need to add extra success ballast on my Honda Civic to try and open the winning field up.”

The Synchro Motorsport driver is proving a force to be reckoned with and it will take a great deal of determination and skill to slow him down.

Gary Ayles Motorsport’s Gavin Pyper could be that man. Pyper managed to knock Kaye off the top spot in the second segment by setting a time of 1:30.108 and qualifying on pole for tomorrow’s Feature race. The Scotsman also set a time in the first segment in his Alfa 156 that was only just over 3/10th of a second behind the experienced Kaye.

Pyper added:

“It is no secret that Kaye and I aren’t the best of friends but we will play clean and fair tomorrow. We will undoubtedly put on a great show for spectators and I intend to come out on top!”

Edenbridge Racing’s Norman Simon will also be one to look out for, in what promises to be a fiercely contested battle for podium places at the 2.13 mile purpose built circuit. The highly focussed German placed himself on the grid in third place for both races and will definitely be aiming to make in-roads on his fifth overall position in the championship in his BMW 320i.

Croft also welcomed Robert Collard back to the series after his Renault Clio was forced to miss the last rounds at Mondello Park because of engine problems. Collard will unfortunately start from the back of the grid tomorrow as disaster struck the three times rostrum visitor once again during today’s qualifying session. As he has now surpassed the number of engine changes permitted in one season (three), he will have five points deducted from the total he has clocked up so far.