With Yvan Muller having shed 12kg of success ballast after the day’s first race and his VX Racing team-mate James Thompson having gained 42kg, it was the Frenchman who regained the upper hand in round eight, putting in a dominant performance to claim his fourth victory of the season – one more than Thompson has managed so far.

With Thompson on pole after his victory in round seven, Muller made an impressive start from alongside his team-mate to lead the pack through Copse corner. Thompson took up second position, with the Honda of Alan Morrison in third. Morrison, however, was forced wide, losing several places and promoting Colin Turkington to third. Turkington himself then came under pressure from Paul O’Neill in his VX Racing Astra Coupe.

On the following lap, Morrison, having recovered from his brief excursion off-track, closed once more on O’Neill and Turkington. The trio ran side by side for several seconds before contact between the two Irish drivers, Turkington and Morrison. It was the Honda man who suffered most on this occasion, being spun and unable to regain control of the car before becoming stranded in the gravel trap.

Turkington remained at the centre of the action over the next few laps, enjoying battles with Gavin Pyper, Anthony Reid, and his 2002 team-mate, Gareth Howell.

Having started from the back of the grid after his first-race disappointment, a ballast free Matt Neal propelled his Civic Type-R through the pack at a phenomenal rate. He was in third position by lap three, and looked set to trouble the Astras of Thompson and Muller. However, it was not to be as the gremlins struck once more, forcing him to pit, and eventually retire, as early as lap six.

Dark clouds could be seen in the Northamptonshire sky as the pit-stop window opened on lap 10, and with the possibility of rain, the teams had to make a careful decision when to bring their drivers in to the pits. Race leader, Yvan Muller, was amongst the first group of cars to pit at the end of lap 12. As has become the norm this year, the VX Racing team executed a perfect pitstop to get Muller back on to the track as quickly as possible – stationary time limited to just 4.5 seconds.

Following the conclusion of the pitstops, Muller and Thompson retained the first two positions, with Anthony Reid in third. Reid came under pressure from his MG Sport & Racing team-mate, Warren Hughes, over the course of the following laps, and it was Hughes who ended the race in the final podium spot.

During the last five laps of the race, the most enthralling battle on track was between Gavin Pyper, Gareth Howell and Tom Chilton. Howell had made it up to fifth position, just behind Hughes and Reid, before a pitstop problem dropped him back down the field. The Team Dynamics driver closed on GA Motorsports team-mate Pyper after exiting the pits, and was soon on his tail. The pair had the works Honda of Chilton behind them. Howell drove impressively to fend off Chilton and protect the position of Pyper, before suffering a sudden loss of fuel pressure on the exit from Abbey, and being forced to retire. As a result, Chilton latched on to the back of Pyper, and the duo battled it out to the line. Chilton just managed to get the nose of his car in front on the exit from the final corner to claim 6th position by just 0.035 seconds. Pyper took victory in the Hilton Independents Cup, and was pleased to have come away from the meeting controversy free, and with two victories: “Two wins, lots of points, lots of tyres, lots of hotel rooms – not a bad weekend really! I took some criticism after Thruxton, so it’s nice to do well here. A good weekend all round!”

Following the race, a victorious Yvan Muller commented, “I am very happy with that! I had a good start. I was very focussed because I made a bad start in the first race. I didn't want to fight with James during the race. It's not good when two Vauxhalls fight!”

His VX Racing team-mate added, “The first stint was dire. I couldn't wait to get the first set of tyres changed. The second set was much better but the damage was done in first ten laps, which was frustrating. Aside from that, I am happy. There was a big balance change going from no weight to 40kg so that played into Yvan's hands.”

“I was disappointed in the first race as the first set of tyres were bad and the second set were half a second a lap faster which is where we should have been. We're all still learning on the tyre front but Yvan is one step ahead of us as he did all the tyre testing through the winter. Hopefully we'll catch up! It's not too late to catch up. All we need is (Yvan) to have an engine failure and we can catch up - it's only 18 points or so. We've got the same car so it's going to be who makes a mistake. If I win two races, I take 10 points out of him. I just need to get a race balance sorted. I've won three races out of eight and been on pole three times.”

“A lot of strange things have kicked in lately with regards to the balance of the car. It's not like it was last year when the car was consistent. This inconsistency has crept in.”

MG Sport & Racing driver, Warren Hughes, on the podium for the first time this year, is confident the team can be competitive over the course of the season: “We're learning all the time. Race to race we learn more and more which puts us in good stead. We have made a breakthrough in the second race. I am confident we will get some race wins together during the rest of the season.”

“I am satisfied with the race result but it was so frustrating to start so far back. Two MG podiums is great but in the first race I had a problem with the alternator which you can't do anything about. Two podiums has made it a worthwhile weekend. The car was better in this race than the second race in terms of balance. We made some small changes in between races.”

“We qualified on second row which is roughly where we should be so I hope it stays that way for the rest of the season.”

In the Production class, Luke Hines took his second victory of the day, ahead of Alan Blencowe and Paul Wallace. However Michael Bentwood retains an 8-point lead in the championship.

The BTCC makes its first visit to the Rockingham Motor Speedway in two weeks time, and all teams and drivers will be looking to capitalize on a circuit where none have previous data to work with. There’s the possibility of a shock at the Corby circuit, but can anyone challenge the VX Racing team?…