The battle between VX Racing's Yvan Muller and Matt Neal for the driver's title in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship remains tense after today's qualifying session at Silverstone circuit, where the two rivals' best lap times were separated by little more than one-tenth of a second. Muller is currently 30 points adrift of Neal, but there are 15 points available for each win and six races still to go in the 2005 championship, three of them at Silverstone tomorrow (Sunday September 18).

In today's timed qualifying, the BTCC cars competed on the shortest version of Silverstone's tracks, the 1.6-mile Silverstone National circuit, for the first time since 1995. Muller recorded a best lap of 60.710sec for eighth-fastest time in his VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch, but Neal (Honda Integra) was in an unusually lowly position too, qualifying for sixth place on the grid with a best lap of 60.582sec. Pole position was claimed by Gareth Howell (Honda Integra) on 60.270sec.

The fastest of the three VX Racing drivers, Colin Turkington, starts tomorrow's first race ahead of Muller and Neal, from fifth on the grid; VX Racing's Gavin Smith was disappointed to qualify 11th.

Silverstone hosts rounds 25, 26 and 27 of the 30-race BTCC, each race to be held over 22 laps (36 miles). Live coverage can be seen on ITV.

Ian Harrison Team Principal

"Unfortunately the layout of this circuit doesn't show the Astra at its best. It's a circuit of two halves; over one half we're strong, but over the other half we're weak. We're fast over the twisty, ¿technical' half, because the car is great through corners, but we're losing that advantage on the two long straights. I'm chuffed that Colin [Turkington] has qualified ahead of Matt [Neal]."

Yvan Muller
Qualified 8th, best lap 60.710sec

"I should be in front of Matt [Neal]. I'm not really optimistic for the race because we're losing too much on the straights, but I'm not giving up my battle with Matt; the only strategy is to race flat-out. Maybe in the second race, if I lose a bit of weight [¿success ballast', based on the previous race result), I'll be a bit quicker."

Gavin Smith
Qualified 11th, best lap 61.022sec

"There are only three real corners on this track, but it's through the corners that our car is best. Balance-wise, the car feels pretty good."