James Thompson Q&A

"Yeah. I don't know why everyone keeps writing me off, it's outrageous really. I've got as good a chance as anybody. There are 10 races to go and 200 points to score. I'm 15 points behind and you get 37 points for a really good race weekend. The law of averages says that one of us is not going to finish one of the races, so it's still wide open, even though Jason [Plato] and Yvan [Muller] are still ahead.

"It's not been a particularly stunning year, but I've used my head and raced well when I've had the chance to and I'm still in there with a shout. For whatever reason we're struggling with pace, just can't quite get the car right. Thruxton, where we just had a small problem, and Donington, where it was pretty smooth, are the only places where I've actually had an edge over everyone else, otherwise we've been struggling. I don't know why - there's no specific reason."



"It's not quite as dangerous as I like it. I need something a little bit different to the other guys. I drive quite differently. Obviously they'd gone a long way down with the development of the car before I came. In the past I've done a lot of the testing in cars I've driven before.

"I seem to like something that's a bit more nervous and a bit more on the edge than the other guys. I certainly don't like understeer. The others seem to be able to live with it. When I can get it right and manageable then I'm quick, like at Donington, where I was comfortably on pole for both races. The problem with understeer is you can't drive through it. It's so uninspiring.

"At least with oversteer, if you're committed enough you can drive through it. That's why I was happy at Snetterton, on slicks on a damp track I can take the risks, but with an armful of understeer you just have to wait for the car to do its thing. I like to commit and press the car on, but you can't do that if it understeers."



"At the end of the day I'm not going to apportion blame to anything in particular. The buck stops with me. Usually my strong point's qualifying, but we've not been able to get the car right for me. When I've been happy with it, I've been on pole. Unfortunately that's not been very often. It doesn't help that we've got no testing. I don't know, there's no point in blaming and moaning and what have you. I've just got to get on with it.

"We're still in with a shout. You've got to take the long-term view. This year it's a bit of a learning curve, coming in late, new car, getting up to speed on everything and so on, but hopefully if it all happens for me next year, then I'll have the winter testing to look forward to and that sort of thing.

"I think you've got to look at it as a two-year programme. This year I've got to learn all over again and next year I'll get a bit more mileage hopefully and do a better job."



"I've seen them knock into each other pretty much everywhere we've been this year, but it's not for me to say really. I've managed to keep reasonably clean so far this year, by just staying out of the way and doing my own thing and that's what I'll do to the end of the year. Whether that allows me to steal through and get a good result, we'll see. Realistically this championship is going to be won by the guy that uses his head and hopefully I can use mine slightly better than the other two and that might be the answer."



"I've been on pole here quite often and usually had good results, but we'll see what happens. You've got to get the best from yourself and the car - and that's what we've been struggling to do at the moment. You might think that local knowledge would give you a bit of an edge, but the company's too good for that. Everything's just got to be right for you when you come to the meeting.

"Here it's not been too bad. The others seem to be able to do the times relatively easily that I do with a big push, so that's the worry."



"No, not at all. It's been great fun and I've had one of my best years in terms of enjoyment of driving. The results have been good, though I've not been winning as much as I'd like and I've not been as fast as I'd like, but I've had a good time. I really look forward to going racing and it's a few years since I've felt like that. It's a very good team and one which deserves the success it's had this year. It's just a shame that we've not had more competition.

"I certainly believe that if anybody else had been in the championship, we'd still have been the class of the field. This car is fantastic. The team has done a great job and the base car lends itself beautifully to being a race car; it's wide and it's got a good wheelbase."



"I wouldn't say I'm back on-track. At the end of the day, I'm not quick enough at the moment. I firmly believe that I'm as fast as anybody in the same car, when it's right for me, but at the moment we can't quite get it right. It's definitely a rebuilding year, having been let down quite badly on my plans, but if there's a right team to help me rebuild it's this one. They give you everything you need in terms of support and Ian [Harrison] has been very good this year.

"It's new regulations, new car and effectively the start of a new career for me - that's how I'm looking at it."



"I don't know. We'll have to see what happens. Nothing's sorted out for next year, but I'm a great believer that if you're happy and enjoying what you're doing, why change? If you're happy there isn't a lot of point in going somewhere else, providing you've got the machinery to win. In previous years I've not been happy with various parts of the equation so the urge has been there to get away from it. Now that's not there, so I'm quite relaxed really."