Thompson tests Speedworks Toyota at Donington

2002 and 2004 British Touring Car Champion James Thompson has tested Speedworks Motorsport’s Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC)-specification Toyota Avensis at Donington Park, as the team prepare for their sophomore season in the Championship.

The Cheshire-based team competed in its first season in the BTCC in 2011, and was the first team to commit to the Championship’s new NGTC-platform, campaigning a GPR Motorsport-built Toyota Avensis for Tony Hughes in what was eventually a partial season whilst continuing to compete in the British GT Championship.

Technical issues plagued the team especially in the earlier part of the season, which saw the team opt out of some races in order to try and resolve them.

37-year-old Thompson, who drove in the final round of the 2011 season for Motorbase Performance as well as and earlier in the year for the Swedish Polestar Racing team in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, has been helping the team work on the car in a test at the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire. The former Champion has also made clear his plans to compete in either the WTCC or BTCC next season in any car which is capable of winning the title.

Though the NGTC Toyota struggled in the earlier part of the year, there were some strong results, primarily for Dynojet Racing’s Frank Wrathall and Rob Austin in his own team’s Audi A4 later in the season as improvements were introduced, with both scoring podium finishes and at times being in contention for race victories.

The NGTC Toyota Avensis will also feature a new aerodynamic package for 2012, incorporating the latest design tweeks and front-end ‘face-lift’ which appear on the road-going model Avensis.