SEATS WILL STUN AT CROFT, PREDICTS THOMPSON
Yorkshire's James Thompson believes he can give his home
crowd a race win to cheer when he returns to racing in the
Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Croft
this Sunday 16 July after a year away from the series.
Thompson will arrive at Croft, near Darlington, lying fourth
in the BTCC standings and also second in the World Touring
Car Championship (WTCC) points table.
The Harrogate driver's WTCC commitments forced him to sit
out the BTCC season in 2005 but this year he's back for six
of the UK series' ten meetings with the SEAT squad, including
Croft.
Thompson, the BTCC champion in 2002 and 2004, said: "Last
year was the first time I'd ever missed a BTCC race in front
of my home crowd and it will be great to be back.
"I think the SEAT Leon will be stunning around Croft.
It's got lots of challenging corners where the car can really
make a difference.
"There are some long straights where we might still
be lacking slightly, but you still need to be mustard around
the corners to be quick at Croft and the Leon is mighty in
the twisty bits.
"It'll also be really nice to get stuck into a circuit
I've always liked and always enjoyed great success at - my
strike rate at Croft is pretty high with quite a few pole
positions and race wins."
Thompson's chief role will be to score as many points as
possible for SEAT as it seeks to win the BTCC's coveted Manufacturers'
title. But he'll also be keeping an eye out for team-mate
and fellow ‘home hero' at Croft, Newcastle-raised Jason
Plato who is vying for the title outright. Plato currently
lies third in the BTCC standings behind reigning champion
Matt Neal and rising Northern Irish star Colin Turkington.
Thompson added: "Matt's got a nice lead at the moment
but the nature of motor sport is that you can sometimes think
you've got it all sewn up but there can suddenly be all sorts
of twists and turns.
"When Jason and I are together we're a formidable team
for any team to take on. I think at Croft we can help SEAT
increase its advantage over Vauxhall in the manufacturers'
table and also Jason can take a bite out of Matt's lead."
|
