Honda Racing produced its best showing at Thruxton today (Monday) since rejoining the British Touring Car Championship when Andy Priaulx emphasised the Civic Type-R's increasing competitiveness with strong top five finishes in both Sprint and Feature races. Team-mate Alan Morrison also enjoyed his most impressive form of the season to capture further championship points for Honda in both rounds. The performance was all the more impressive as Honda Racing arrived at super-fast Thruxton with no previous experience of the challenging Hampshire circuit where speeds top 140mph.

Qualifying: Underlining the continuing development of the Honda Civic Type-R, Priaulx produced Honda Racing's best qualifying performance of the season by claiming top six grid positions for both Sprint and Feature races - sixth for the Sprint, fifth for the Feature. Understandably the Guernseyman was happy with the team's progress even though he felt there was still some more speed to find from the car. Morrison, too, was encouraged by the Civic's positive progress but was thwarted by circumstances and wasn't able to reflect his growing confidence during qualifying. The Ulsterman's fastest time for the Sprint race should have netted him a top six starting slot, however, as the lap was completed a couple of seconds after the session had been completed, he had to be content with 11th position. Unlike other motor sport disciplines, this year's BTCC rules do not allow a driver to complete current laps once the session is terminated. Morrison suffered further frustration when failing to find a clear track during qualifying for the Feature race - relegating him to an unlucky 13th quickest.

Sprint Race: Cold but dry conditions greeted the competitors as the grid formed for the opening Sprint race. Priaulx made a strong start from sixth place and immediately moved up to fifth when Warren Hughes spun on the opening lap. However, the gyrating MG cost the Channel Islander time and allowed the first four to break clear of the recovering Honda. Priaulx chased hard and was rewarded with a fine fourth place when Yvan Muller's Vauxhall retired on lap 12 -- the best result to date for the improving Honda Racing team.

Starting further back on the grid, Morrison's race was altogether more hectic. The Ulsterman was involved in a thrilling mid-field battle throughout the 15-lap race and finally brought his Civic home safely in 12th place.

Feature Race: After his relatively untroubled run in the Sprint race, Priaulx had to fight hard for fifth place in the afternoon's longer Feature race. After another strong start, the 27-year-old was embroiled in a thrilling race long battle for third place with proven touring car aces Matt Neal (Vauxhall), Anthony Reid (MG) and Tim Harvey (Peugeot). Places swapped throughout the frantic 25-lap encounter and Priaulx finally finished hot on the heels of Neal and Harvey with less than a second covering the trio as they crossed the line.

Morrison was also embroiled in some fierce competition but, despite losing some valuable time during his mid-race pit-stop, the 31-year-old produced his best drive of the year to claim eighth place by the chequered flag.

Alan Morrison (Driver - Civic 27): "The car has really come on leaps and bounds and my performance in the Feature race will give me much more confidence for the rounds to come. Now all I need are some better grid positions as that will make life easier in the races."

Andy Priaulx (Driver - Civic 28): "It's been another encouraging weekend. Thruxton is never an easy track to come to with a new car and no previous data but we have produced two really good results. Once again the cars have been reliable and we have taken another significant step forward in terms of our ability to fine tune the chassis."

Mark Davie s (Honda UK): "Today's results prove that we have overcome the early technical issues experienced with the new car and that the team is beginning to understand how to optimise the inherent strengths of the Civic Type-R. Both our drivers are increasingly confident about the forthcoming races and with the benefit of further testing before the next rounds at Silverstone, I' m sure even better results are ahead."td>