James Thompson happy with “perfect” test

James Thompson was happy with his first test with the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST at Brands Hatch today ahead of his BTCC return at Silverstone.

The last time Thompson won a race at Silverstone was in his last Championship winning year in May of 2004 with the Vauxhall Astra Coupe, though since then he’s only been back there twice, in 2005 with Alfa Romeo in the World Touring Car Championship and in 2006 with SEAT Sport in the BTCC.

Thompson’s most recent experience with a turbocharged engine in a touring car was with former BTCC team bamboo-engineering in their WTCC-specification Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T at Rockingham in early August. Thompson also drove the NGTC-concept Toyota Avensis at Brands Hatch last October in Free Practice, which was powered by the 2.0 litre turbocharged Swindon engine.

“We’ve had a great day testing at Brands,” said Thompson. “The car has run perfectly and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting back out on track. The Airwaves team have been a pleasure to work with; we’ve had a really productive day and made a few changes to the Focus – just to get me comfortable and set up for the weekend.”

“This weekend will be my first competing in the Airwaves Focus and although it’s never easy to step straight into a new car, it’s still got four wheels and a steering wheel like the rest of them so I should hope that all my years’ racing will deliver a great result for the team at Silverstone.”