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James Thompson

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Career BTCC Results James Thompson News Articles

Above: James Thompson in one of his select outings for Seat at Brands Hatch, 2006		Nationality: English Date of birth: 26 April 1974 Place of birth: York, England Status: Married Website: www.seatsportuk.co.uk BTCC Debut: Thruxton, 4 April 1994, Peugeot 405 Mi16 BTCC Races: 214* BTCC Wins: 33* BTCC Points: 1772* * after Round 15 2006
James Thompson, 32, got his motor racing interest from his father, David, who used to rally Porsche's and Ford Escort's in the 1970's and 80's. Provided with all the right tools, Thompson was able to race around on bikes in his first few years around the family farm, and even got his first car, or Fiat-powered 'buggy', at the age of six. In 1995, in only his second year in the BTCC, James Thompson became the youngest person to win a BTCC race, although his record has since been bettered by Tom Chilton. In 1991, Thompson attended the Jim Russell Racing School after finishing in karting. He proved his worth, winning his first race and moved on to Formula Vauxhall Junior for a limited campaign in 1991. For 1992 Thompson contested the whole season, and in his first full season of racing impressed many people as he finished fourth overall and won two races - an achievement that earned him a place in the Castrol Honda Scholarship program for 1993's move up to saloon car racing. In 1993 Thompson won his first significant championship by taking the top honours in the National Saloon Car Cup, and it was to be a turning point in the young Yorkshireman's tin-top career. Says Thompson, "I'd won the championship - and that proved a lot." For Thompson's maiden year in the BTCC, in which he was the youngest driver in the field, he raced a Peugeot 405 Mi16 in the Independent's Cup. Despite finishing outside the top 20 in the championship, Vauxhall saw the potential of Thompson as a future world champion and signed him to drive the Cavalier for the 1995 season. 1995 proved to be the breakthrough year for Thompson. Not only was it his first ever season in a full works drive, but he also became the youngest ever BTCC race winner at Thruxton. It was to be his only win of the season, but it was a season in which he made his mark to eventually finish 7th overall, a highly impressive display for a rookie driver in the series! He managed all of this despite having his season cut short by a crash at Knockhill. In 1996 Vauxhall changed to the Vectra, which proved to be a much more difficult car to drive initally than the Cavalier. Despite this Thompson still managed to squeeze one win out of the car, although he could only manage 10th overall in the championship this time around. For the next four years, 1997 through to 2000, Thompson raced for the works Honda team with mixed success. In his first year in the car in 1997 he again only achieved one win as the pace of the Williams-prepared Renault's was too much. But once again consistency meant that he was able to finish 5th overall in the championship. 1998 was Thompson's best year with Honda, as he was one of the main competitors to champion Rickard Rydell and scored 4 wins in the season, allowing him to finish third overall. However, this was to be the peak of Honda's performance in the BTCC with Thompson; in the 1999 season he could only achieve one win and the same again in 2000, during which period he finished 4th and 9th in the championship respectively. Whilst contesting the BTCC in 2000, Thompson also elected to contest selected rounds of the DTM Series in Germany with a privately-run Audi TT. This was to be the first of many entries in other major touring car series. 2001 saw Thompson return to Vauxhall to race for the Egg:Sport Vauxhall team, which was prepared by Triple Eight Engineering, the same people running the works Astras that year. A solid year saw him win 5 times and equal his best finish in the BTCC, with third overall. Thompson also continued his association with Honda in the European Touring Car Championship, scoring two second place finishes from selected rounds that didn't clash with his BTCC commitments.
In 2002, Thompson began his first of three years alongside rival and team-mate Yvan Muller in the works Vauxhall squad. Six wins was enough to see him clinch the title, by only 20 points at the final meeting at Donington Park. Thompson also began contesting select rallies during the year, with his highlight being finishing 19th overall and 2nd in class on the Wales Rally Great Britain. 2003 was much similar to the previous year, with Thompson battling Muller for the title whilst continuing to contest various rallies. However, this time around Muller beat Thompson and the Englishman had to settle for second in the championship.
One of the closest ever season in the BTCC's history was won by Thompson in 2004 as he beat Yvan Muller by a single point, the championship decided by Thompson getting a point for fastest lap in the final round of the season at Donington Park. The season had started promising for Thompson, but he lost the advantage he had built up in the mid-season when Muller caught up with him in the standings. For the final part of the season, both drivers were neck and neck, and the championship could have gone either way. Luckily for Thompson, he secured his second BTCC title.		Above: James Thompson in his 2004 title-winning Vauxhall Astra Coupe
Thompson combined his 2004 BTCC efforts with an increasing involvement in the European Touring Car Championship, scoring a win for Alfa Romeo and finishing 9th in the championship. He even raced for the team at Spa on the day of his wedding, showing his commitment to racing, and had to leave the event by helicopter in rather a hurry to make it to his wedding on time! At Snetterton, however, Thompson announced his decision to leave the BTCC to focus on racing in the WTCC (name now changed from ETCC) with Alfa Romeo.
Above: James Thompson at Brands Hatch, 2006		For 2006 Thompson has returned to the BTCC to race for Seat on a limited campaign. On the weekends when the BTCC doesn't clash with the WTCC (in which James is also racing for Seat), Thompson will be racing alongside Jason Plato. However, when he can't make it to Britain's premier championship, Darren Turner will be taking to the helm of the Seat Leon. It once again underlines Thompson's enthusiasm for racing, as he once again has a busy year behind the wheel. Thompson has so far had an excellent season in the BTCC and, despite not competing in every round, currently lies 5th in the championship and already has three wins under his belt. If you want to be able to watch Thompson in action this year, you'll need to make it to one of the following meetings: Brands Hatch (April 9), Mondello Park (April 23), Oulton Park (May 14), Croft (July 16), Snetterton (August 13) or the season finale at Silverstone (October 15).

Career Rundown

2006:	World Touring Car Championship, Seat Sport, Seat Leon British Touring Car Championship, Seat Sport UK, Seat Leon Selected races, 6 out of 10 rounds that do not clash with WTCC
2005:	World Touring Car Championship, Alfa Romeo Racing Team, Alfa Romeo 156 8th overall, 1 win
2004:	British Touring Car Championship, VX Racing, Vauxhall Astra Coupe Champion, 4 wins European Touring Car Championship, Alfa Romeo Racing Team, Alfa Romeo 156 9th overall, 1 win, selected races
2003:	British Touring Car Championship, VX Racing, Vauxhall Astra Coupe 2nd overall, 4 wins European Touring Car Championship, Alfa Romeo Racing Team, Alfa Romeo 156 12th overall, 1 win, selected races
2002:	British Touring Car Championship, VX Racing, Vauxhall Astra Coupe Champion, 6 wins
2001:	British Touring Car Championship, Egg:Sport Vauxhall, Vauxhall Astra Coupe 3rd overall, 5 wins European Touring Car Championship, Honda Racing, Honda Accord Best result: two 2nd plce finishes, selected races
2000:	British Touring Car Championship, Redstone Team Honda, Honda Accord 9th overall, 1 win
1999:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Honda Sport, Honda Accord 4th overall, 1 win
1998:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Honda Sport, Honda Accord 3rd overall, 4 wins
1997:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Honda Sport, Honda Accord 5th overall, 1 win
1996:	British Touring Car Championship, Vauxhall Sport, Vauxhall Vectra 10th overall, 1 win
1995:	British Touring Car Championship, Vauxhall Sport, Vauxhall Cavalier 7th overall, 1 win
1994:	British Touring Car Championship, Swallow Racing, Peugeot 405 Mi16 23rd overall
1993:	National Saloon Car Cup, Castrol Honda Scholarship, Honda Civic Champion, 7 wins
1992:	British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship 4th overall, 2 wins
1991:	British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship

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Select Archive Circuits Drivers      Allison, Matt      Chilton, Tom      Collard, Rob      Giovanardi, Fabrizio      Jackson, Mat      Jelley, Stephen      Jones, Adam      Jordan, Andrew      Jordan, Mike      Kane, Steven      Kizilirmak, Erkut      Leggate, Fiona      Leslie, David      Menu, Alain      Neal, Matt      Onslow-Cole, Tom      Pickford, James      Plato, Jason      Shedden, Gordon      Smith, Gavin      Stockton, Chris      Thompson, James      Turkington, Colin      Turner, Darren      Vaulkhard, Harry Results      2008      2007      2006      2005      2004      2003      2002 Teams