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VX Racing arrived at Donington today
with two championships - manufacturers and team - almost wrapped up,
but the drivers championship still in the balance. With James
Thompson on 244 championship points and Yvan Muller on 240 points,
the pressure was on both drivers to qualify well for the first race
and neither needed any more pressure, but changing weather, damp in
the morning, raining later, then drying during qualifying, was not
ideal. And with forecasts for a dry day tomorrow, the weather could
be an added factor for the championship decider races.
Muller, with the second heaviest car
in the field after 5th, 4th and 2nd place finishes in the previous
rounds at Snetterton, had his work cut out to qualify ahead of
Thompson, 12 kgs lighter. Throughout the 30 minute qualifying
session all three Vauxhall Astra Coupes were lapping in the top half
of the grid, the success ballast hampering efforts for either
championship contender to add the valuable championship point for
pole position to their tally. It was Jason Plato that took this
away, but with Thompson finishig third fastest and Muller in fifth
place for the start, the final rounds of the 2004 Green Flag MSA
British Touring Car Championship look set for a tough fight to the
finish for both VX Racing drivers. Luke Hines, in his first year
with VX Racing is engrossed in his own battle in the drivers
championship, with a seventh place finish a possible conclusion to
his debut year with the team.
The opening practice session at
Donington, in fairly damp conditions, saw VX Racing start this
finale weekend at the top of the time sheets, with Muller taking the
top spot with an impressive lap time of 1 minute 13.864 seconds, the
fastest ever lap by a touring car at the 1.96 mile circuit.
Thompson, turned in the third fastest lap, while third driver Hines,
finished 11th fastest. In the second session the weather had
worsened and the VX Racing team selected to start on wet tyres.
Muller completed 20 laps and finished second quickest behind Plato
and Hine, coping well with the continuing rain, improved to fifth
fastest.
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However, Thompson only completed one lap of the circuit
before the wet conditions caught him out and he aquaplaned into the
gravel at the Old Hairpin, where he remained for the rest of the
session.
VX Racing returns to the track tomorrow morning for the first of the
three rounds of this final 2004 BTCC race weekend.
Driver quotes:
James Thompson, Car No.2
"It was quite a tricky qualifying session, quite wet at the
start and not really drying, but then drying quickly towards the
end. I was running on mixed tyres, slick fronts and wet rears, but I
needed one more lap and I might have got on the front row. It's good
that Yvan didn't take the extra point for pole, it's still very
even. As for my excursion into the gravel in practice, I think I
overestimated my own ability and for the first time in nearly four
years ended up in the gravel."
Yvan Muller, Car No.1
"We made a mistake at the beginning putting the mixed tyres on
too early in the session. We should have waited a little longer, we
made the wrong choice. Now, I need to push and keep pushing."
Luke Hines, Car No.57
"I didn't have much wet testing before the season and we
haven't done much wet running, so I'm not really used to these
conditions. We put new tyres on towards the end of the session, but
the track was drying quickly. If we could have had a few more
minutes we probably could have improved our position a bit more.
But, we're within the top 10 and all set for the race now. We just
need to decide on our race strategy for the first race."
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