James Thompson

CHAMPION 2002, 2004

James Thompson, the son of prolific 1970s rally driver David, was the first in a new wave of racers who had set their sights on the British Touring Car Championship almost from the start of their careers.

After briefly flirting with rallying, Thompson began his circuit racing career in the new Formula Vauxhall Junior single-seater series, but this was only to get experience. After finishing fourth in the standings in his second season in 1992, he was one of several drivers chosen to join the Honda Scholarship, which ran several up-and-coming racers in the Group N-based National Saloon Car Cup. He took seven wins in his Civic V-tec and he made the right impression.

He made the step to the BTCC in 1994 in a privateer Peugeot. He was immediately on the pace, taking two wins. He was signed by Vauxhall and won in his first season, but had to miss the latter part of the year when he crashed in testing at Knockhill.

He remained with Vauxhall for another season before joining Honda, but his greatest days came when the UK series switched to the BTC-T regulations in 2001. He was always pushing his team-mates and fought a mighty duel with Yvan Muller to claim his maiden title, winning another in 2004. There was more glory with Team Dynamics in a Honda in

’09. The popular racer walked away with 36 wins, one of the 10 most successful BTCC racers ever.