Sprint Race
James Thompson took his second win of the season at Donington Park on Sunday 1st July. He won the race ahead of Jason Plato with Yvan Müller in third. Thompson, who made a good start was followed into the first corner by his egg.com teammate Phil Bennet who got past Müller. A few corners later an error meant Bennet got a bad exit letting Müller power past. Jason Plato took advantage of the situation and squeezed by. Peugeot's Steve Soper was right behind and felt that he also wanted a piece of the cake. He tried to follow Plato past Bennet but was way to optimistic. Soper slammed in to the side of Bennet who was sent spinning off the track.

In the mean time a huge battle had started between Plato and Müller. The two drivers were all over each other during the whole race, banging wheels, swapping paint and pushing each other sideways (good traditional BTCC racing!!). With only a few laps to go, the safety car was brought out while some oil was cleared from the track. After the restart Plato was right behind Müller. After only a few corners Plato threw his car past Müller and held his second place over the finish line.

Thompson speaking after the race said: "I built a four-second gap and then chilled out, but then the oil went down. I was braking at the Esses and thinking "Oh crikey" as I ran onto the grass. That picked up some rubbish on my left-side tyres and cost me two seconds,"

BTC Touring results
1 James Thompson Vauxhall Astra Coupe 17 laps
2 Jason Plato Vauxhall Astra Coupe +1.801
3 Yvan Müller Vauxhall Astra Coupe +2.696
4 Phil Bennett Vauxhall Astra Coupe +4.635
5 Dan Eaves Peugeot 406 Coupe +9.603
6 Steve Soper Peugeot 406 Coupe +10.625
7 Aaron Slight Peugeot 406 Coupe +13.909

The Norwegian star Roger Moen took the win for the BTC Production class at Donington. He won race one a second ahead of Gavin Pyper, who originally had pole position. Mat Jackson, in the Ford Focus, finished third. Gavin Pyper lost his pole position as he had to change his engine, and this put him to the back of the grid. Though Pyper started from the back of the grid, he made an impressive race up to second place. The current points leader Simon Harrison lost a lot of ground as his braking system was loosing fluid during the whole race, though before that he managed to set the quickest lap for the BTC Production cars.

BTC Production results

1 Roger Moen Peugeot 306 17 laps
2 Gavin Pyper Alfa Romeo 156 +1.034
3 Mat Jackson Ford Focus +1.561
4 Rob Collard Renault Clio +6.240
5 James Kaye Honda Accord +6.250
6 Jim Edwards Jr Honda Accord +17.520

Feature Race
Jason Plato took his fourth win of the season in the Feature Race. He finished 1.5 seconds ahead of previous race winner James Thompson and 4.3 seconds ahead of Müller. Thompson held the pole position and made, as in the previous race, a good start with Jason Plato right behind. Plato continued to push Thompson hard in the early stages of the race, and it worked - Thompson ran wide coming into the old hairpin. Plato was not slow to take advantage of this and strolled into the lead.

The safety car was brought out in the later stages of the race since Phil Bennet's Vauxhall had stopped on a dangerous part of the circuit. Plato and Müller once more had an entertaining fight, again with Plato coming out ahead. Müller started to suffer from brake problems, something that caused a minor collision between the two drivers. Plato bumped in to the back of Müller and got past. "Maybe he was having brake problems and stopped a bit too early... It was a little kiss. Tit for tat. It's going to be one of those years - we're still buddies now" said Plato later in his post race comments.

BTC Touring results
1 Jason Plato Vauxhall Astra Coupe 31 laps
2 James Thompson Vauxhall Astra Coupe +1.524
3 Yvan Müller Vauxhall Astra Coupe +4.309
4 Dan Eaves Peugeot 406 Coupe +11.508
5 Steve Soper Peugeot 406 Coupe +37.243

Mat Jackson took his first ever BTC Production win today. He finished with his Ford Focus 2.641 seconds ahead of Roger Moen. Simon Graves, in the Honda Accord, was a distant third almost twenty seconds behind. Graves looked once again to take the victory, but he was unlucky and suffered from engine problems. Moen and Jackson went by, leaving Graves in third. Moen held the lead to the penultimate lap when Jackson stormed by. Jackson had started from 10th place on the grid.
BTC Production results

1 Mat Jackson Ford Focus 31 laps
2 Roger Moen Peugeot 306 +2.641
3 Simon Graves Honda Accord +19.636
4 Dave Allan Honda Accord +1 lap
5 Rick Kraemer Ford Focus +1 lap
6 Annie Templeton Peugeot 306 +1 lap

The next rounds of the www.theAA.com MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Knockhill on 21st/22nd July.

Stop Press
It was announced after the weekend's racing that Kurt Luby has left ABG Motorsport.

Luby drove a privately financed Lexus IS200 with ABG Motorsport in the BTC Touring class in the BTCC. "It's down to several things. But Kurt has had enough. There are a few changes coming, and Kurt is one" said ABG team boss Tim Blake. Kurt has not had an easy time with the Lexus this season. Thomas Erdos, who was supposed to drive a second Lexus, will take over the seat after Kurt. He will drive the car for the first time at Knockhill on the 22nd of July.

More Breaking News
Team B&Q have just announced an exciting new talent for the Knockhill rounds of the championship. Anyone who followed Fiesta racing last year will already know her - Joanna Clarke. Team owner John B&Q said: " I just need a weekend to look at the team and how we are performing both on and off the track. It's hard work being an owner/driver! I am also interested in how the team will look in 2002 and Joanna is certainly one of the few drivers that I am interested in looking at as being part of our team next year."