James Thompson: Un-cut

James Thompson has gone from sitting at home with no drive at the beginning of the year, following N.Technology's withdrawal from the World Touring Car Championship, to having full-time drives - and genuine title aspirations - in two different touring car championships, and plans to turn out down under for the V8 Supercar enduros later in the year.

He talks AUTOSPORT's Jamie O'Leary through his year so far.

Q: You recently became the first Briton to win a Danish Touring Car Championship round. How does it feel to have made it into another history book?

James Thompson: I'm really chuffed, it's been a nice couple of weeks. It's really enjoyable. Winning races doesn't happen too much during a season - even in a championship-winning season, you still only win three, four, maybe five races. So it's nice to have won four races in two weeks across two championships. I don't think I've ever done that before. It might be the start of my purple patch - I've waited long enough for it.

Q: Did you expect this to be the situation last November?

JT: No, definitely not. In November last year I was hoping we'd do a second year with the Honda in the WTCC to try and build on the first year, because it was always supposed to be a three-year programme. So to come from December 24, when I was told that we weren't racing again this year [because N.Technology shut down its touring car squad] to come to now and to winning races again, it's very pleasing. It has been a bit of a transformation because I had no idea what I was going to be doing.

Q: How did it feel to be released from your N.Technology contract?

JT: It wasn't exactly the way I was hoping Santa Claus was going to be delivering my presents. It was very disappointing so late on as well, because you think that when you're on a three-year contract and planning for the future, that it will keep happening. It was a tough year last year, working towards improving the car in the first part of the year, and it really coming together towards the end.

In reality, with winning a race and getting close to a podium at Macau, it was a strong finish to the season. You think that when you finish a season well you can have a good winter programme and start the next season well too. Obviously when the plug is pulled, you have to find other things to do. It's sad for all concerned, not just myself. There's no point in moping around in your own sorrow when obviously the bigger picture is that there's a whole team of people there left in the lurch just before Christmas. It's disappointing for all concerned.

Racing the N.Technology Honda Accord at Macau © LAT

JT: Pretty much. It had been very, very tough and just when we though we were about to achieve a bit of consistency, because we were strong in Japan as well and would have had a reversed grid pole for race two if Yvan [Muller] hadn't pushed me off on the second to last corner. We had a chance of finishing well. It was one of those years where we had one fantastic result [at Imola] and had a chance of another [at Macau], but it just never quite happened. It probably summed up the programme. It never really quite happened, it's disappointing for everyone.

Q: Was there at least an advantage that you were free to talk to anyone about a drive come January?

JT: No. The problem is that I've always been lucky enough to have earned a living by being paid by manufacturers and well-funded teams to develop and drive the car. The problem is these days, with the economic climate as it is, professional drivers are becoming a bit like dinosaurs - being driven to extinction.

To be at the start of the season, when I had a very good contract to work though hopefully a series of years, and then in January to be left with nothing and to have to look around at who had programmes confirmed with good funds... They were pretty thin on the ground, and because I hadn't been chasing anything else [because I'd been concentrating on the programme I was already involved in], I was really left in the lurch in terms of finding not only drives that are going to pay, but also drives that are going to enable you to win races. That's pretty damn difficult in early January.

Q: How long had you been talking to Team Dynamics?

JT: I'd been interested in working with Steve [Neal] for a while. He runs a very professional operation and has won championships, so they're obviously a great bunch of guys. Steve's been very supportive of me over the years. That's why I drove his car over the winter. They were interested in having my input and I was allowed to do it because it was a Honda, there were no issues. In the past I have managed to dovetail two championships, like when I was with SEAT. I really enjoyed racing in the WTCC and in the UK. It's like having your cake and eating it.

Q: How have you managed to dovetail two programmes as successfully as you have?

JT: I've never really thought about it, and it's nice that some people do. From my side, I just get on with it, get in the car and do what I can. If you have a car that you can tailor to your specific needs, then you can make it happen. Perhaps that's why I've been able to do that. I've probably been very lucky that I've had a chance to work with exceptional people all the time and that's made a massive difference.

Celebrating a BTCC win at Donington Park © LAT

Q: Had you already decided which programme to pursue before you tested the Tempus and Motorbase cars?

JT: It was more about looking to see what teams had a programme for me. Unfortunately, lots of the teams out there need a driver that can bring money. I've been fortunate enough to have been paid to drive for many years, and I can't bring anything to the table except what I represent as a driver. If you employ me then I'd like to think that it's a job, like with a mechanic. You can come along for fun or have a paying job. Everyone's going to go for the paying job. You can't just do it for charity.

A lot of the teams out there have to earn a living out of it and they need good drivers who can bring money - there's more of them than you might think. For me, I've been very lucky to always work for manufacturers and get paid to drive for them. It's very difficult to go to being someone who has to bring money to a team. Maybe some drivers are guilty of pricing themselves out of the market. You have to be realistic about the state of play, but also teams have to respect that if they want a driver who can make a sizeable difference and develop a car quickly, it's going to cost them. It's like engines. You can go to the top guys and get the best engine, but that costs more.

Like Steve says, there are some guys he classes as Grade A drivers and you have to put your hand in your pocket in that case. From my point of view, I'm just pleased that we've managed to turn it around. It's not just putting me in the car. The situation that we had was that at the first race we did have a plan of attack. We implemented the first stage of that at Donington.

Oulton, we hoped would be another slight step forwards, all being well we should be bolstering our performance every race, which I think bodes well for our consistency. That doesn't mean that we're going to walk in and win every race. It's far too competitive for that. Hopefully though it means that we will be able to fight for the podium at all tracks. The main thing is the transformation from last time out was that fighting for the win in race three is very different from race one.

Q: Is race three not important then?

JT: It's for the show, the entertainment for the crowd. It's very enjoyable and it's some good racing to do, but I'm more focused on making sure the car's quick in qualifying, because that shows the real pace of the car, and then the first two races too. If you win the first race then you have the added challenge of trying to win race two with all the ballast. Race three counts for the same points, so you have to give it due respect, but you're up against it because you can be back as far as 10th on the grid. I don't think that's a true measure of your performance.

First outing for Team Dynamics at Thruxton © LAT

JT: Yes, pretty much. I was in contact with Steve up until the start of the season and I wished him well, as I did with all the teams I tested for. It was very nice to be asked to come and drive people's cars because they all put a lot of effort into getting me into their cars. Obviously it's disappointing to be sat on your sofa watching it when you think you could be out there and challenging for podiums. That's disappointing, so I thought there was no real opportunity. I thought maybe I'd be in the car for an odd race, but no chance I'd be able to do the bulk of the season. From that side of things I'm over the moon.

Q: Was Thruxton a case of starting from scratch?

JT: Very much so. I had no experience of the car. Thruxton's difficult because there's a separate tyre there, you have to get used to the quickest track in the UK, and arguably one of the most technical. I'd not driven since before Christmas, so there are a lot of things you have to shake off in terms of rustiness very quickly, and also identify a direction for the future.

I think that's what helps a driver make a living out of racing where some others don't. It's being able to know what you want from the car and how to work with your engineers in the team to achieve that. Then when you actually achieve something, you get the result. Thruxton was a learning experience for us all. We had a chat about where we wanted to be and the likely timescale about getting those things implemented. The team pushed forward as hard as they could.

Q: How easy was it to spot the Civic's flaws?

JT: Very easy. There are certain things that will take time and development - really a kind of winter test plan. I don't mean to be talking myself up because the engineers there are clever people. Sometimes all they need is for me to tell them what I think about something. They listen to what I say and can identify in certain areas.

I've been very lucky that, in this modern era of cars, I've driven quite a lot of them so I've got a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. I think we, as a team, identified where we were weak and how we could fix it. From my point of view, I'm quite peculiar about what I want from a car, but at the same time, if I can achieve what I want form a car I 'd like to think that I can be as quick as anyone on the day.

Q: How do you develop technical skills behind the wheel?

JT: I think I've always enjoyed the technical aspect of it. The way I've had to work over the last few years with N.Technology has been long hours at the track on race weekends. Basically you have to be super-critical and analytical of what you've done over the weekend, because that's your test session. You use practice and qualifying as a test session, warm-up is a test session, even race one is a test for the second race. You break things down and look at things in the manner and the time you have available to you.

Maybe that's helped me in the last few years, focusing on what's achievable and what isn't over a race weekend. Perhaps that's helped rather than having days and days of testing where you can test everything. You have to be pretty accurate with what you want to do. I really enjoyed that and being part of that programme. That's not just about me, it's about the people you work with, and it doesn't happen unless you are involved with very good people.

Q: Do you owe your skills to having worked with RML, Prodrive, WSR, Abt, Triple 8, N.Technology, ORECA etc?

JT: Absolutely. I've worked with all those teams, all synonymous with success and a methodical way of working. The work I've done with N.Technology is probably the most intense I've ever come across because of the way I've had to be. I've been the sole driver for the last two and a half years, and with a limited budget too.

I've won WTCC races and when you're up against the works teams - guys like Andy [Priaulx] doing 60 days testing and we did, in 2007, one day during the season with a five-year old car, and we managed to score more points than anyone else in the second half of the season and arguably had the fastest race car by then too. That was through hard work from the team's point of view and I guess that way of working and coming up with a way of somehow making it happen worked. I'm not taking credit for that, You have to work with the right people, and I've been very fortunate to have always worked with very clever people.

Racing at Brno in the WTCC for SEAT in 2006 © XPB

Q: How much success do you attribute to your engineers?

JT: I've got Stuart Beaton in the UK and Marco Calovolo in Denmark. I've learnt a lot from him in the last few years when we've been with N.Technology, so it's a pleasure to be working with him in Denmark, and I've got a very good team there in Hartmann Racing like I have in the UK with Team Dynamics. I've got a great lot of knowledge to fall back on. Marco's a very loyal guy and technically exceptionally good. I attribute lots of the success of the last few years to him. Very clever guy.

Q: Would you have won two races at Donington if it had been dry all day?

JT: I'd like to think so. The one thing I always try to do is that I feel a car has to work in all conditions, so I was very pleased how the car was at Donington, because to make it work in the wet only required a few small changes. It was exceptional in the wet and the second race in the dry. We were in a bit of the unknown in both.

We made a few changes on the formation lap for the first race because I struggled a bit on the formation lap. Great work from the guys to improve the car even on the formation lap, and then in the second race on full ballast the car felt fantastic from start to finish. Adding the weight just altered the weight distribution slightly, but the balance was still fantastic.

Q: Where does the Civic still need improvements?

JT: It's just pure speed. We're very lucky that the engine is outstanding. Neil Brown is fantastic. It's the same as I have in the Accord in Denmark, and I was very keen to work with him in Denmark, because it was one of our failings in the WTCC - not by the end when Mugen was doing our engines and we could take a step forward - but it was one thing we needed.

Neil's done an exceptional job. I worked with him in the 90s with Honda and he did a great job then. You have to have a good engine in this formula to have a good chance of winning and Donington proved that. It's a power track. You need to the power up the hills and down the straights. So I think the combination of the engine and how the chassis was really was a key to the success.

We need to improve the overall pace. Driving as hard as you can to win the race, you'll never be kind on the tyres. In race two I drove like my life depended on it because I thought I won't get many chances to win two races in a weekend and really wanted to make it count. Yes the car was working the tyres hard, but it got the job done. We can be faster and kinder on the tyres, but this is part of the development that we're working towards. We don't have the budget to do what we want to, or the timescale. There's not a gold tree at the end of the Dynamics yard.

We have honed the set-up so the car can be front-running. Some developments came online for this weekend, and some are due for the following weekend, so we should take a small step forward each round. That's great for me. The team is constantly working, and if you're going to challenge to win races all the time, you need that. That's where we're at. If you're car is the quickest, you don't have to push as hard to win races. Consequently you look after the tyres better and go even faster. It's a chicken and egg scenario. You need to just keep improving the pace, then you can dictate it.

Q: What has been improved since Thruxton?

JT: The whole package. Aero, differential, springs, dampings, baseline setup. We Reviewed it all and changed significant things through the weekend. We did it in a methodical fashion. At Thruxton we changed things to the extent that the car was at its best in the third race and consequently we could challenge for third position. But imagine being first session, second session, qualifying, race one-two-three. There's the potential in that time to make significant changes.

The next few days we think about it, think about what worked and what didn't and move onto the next race with all that in mind, having taken those steps forward and coming up with a slightly new starting point at Donington. That's what we did. We turned up with what we had, changed the car accordingly and then started Donington from that point, and then we made progress with the car through the weekend like we planned to.

Q: Did you expect this level of success so quickly?

JT: No, I'm very pleased it did though. The only thing now is that we've raise our level of expectation, and making sure we're constantly at that level now is going to be very tough, especially with the testing we can do. At the end of the day we've done nine races now and had three wins. I think we've got the ball rolling. Now we have to keep it there, and that's the difficult bit. I think though that with the bits we've got coming online soon, we can certainly keep running in the front few of the championship.

Leading the BTCC field at Oulton Park © LAT

JT: It depends on my Australian programme [the V8 Supercar enduros at Phillip Island and Bathurst with Triple 8 Ford]. The problem is I committed myself there, and Denmark too. When I had nothing in January, Roland Dane [Triple 8 Australia boss] was the first person to call me and ask me if I wanted to do the endurance events out there. So basically he was the first one to help me out and from that side of things, I have a contract with him and I did commit myself there first.

It's not actually the races that clash, it's the testing pre-Phillip Island that clashes with our calendar here. It's a three-day test over a race weekend. That's the problem. There are ways around it, I guess. I never thought we'd be in the situation that we're in. The last few weeks have been amazing. It's all going in the right direction, but in some ways the wrong direction because of the problems it potentially causes. Everyone knew these scenarios could arise. One of the saddest things is that potentially I'll be walking away from two title efforts, but that's the way it is. At the moment we'll take one race as it comes and you never know, the scenarios could change.

Q: Do you know which of the BTCC or DTC finales you'll do, as the dates clash?

JT: With the DTC you can drop your five worst scores, so I can miss one meeting there, which kind of sorts that one a bit, but it depends on how the others do. I'm having a great time at the minute and a huge thanks to the teams in both series for giving me a car that can win races. It's amazing pitching up at a race meeting knowing you can win. There's enough times in a career where you get to a track and think 'crikey, this is going to be another tough one'. Fighting for victories all the time is great.