Race 1: Thommo's easy win

Amazingly, it was the first time a factory Vauxhall Astra has won a race since Mondello Park in June, and after the chaos of Brands Hatch two weeks ago, this race was quite boring by comparison. It did ensure however that Thompson now has a nine point championship lead over team-mate Yvan Muller with five races left to go in the championship.

"I'd almost forgotten what it was like to stand on the winner's step of the rostrum," said Thompson afterwards. "I'm absolutely made up. It's just what we need at this stage of the championship. I thought that yesterday (in qualifying) I exerted a lot of pressure on Yvan (Muller) and I needed to capitalise on that.

"I needed everything, a good start, a win and a fastest lap. This is always a strong circuit for me. But the weekend's not over yet as we have seen before. You can start strongly then have a dip in fortune. We've got to keep pushing and capitalise on it."

Computeach Racing with Halfords driver Matt Neal passed Muller at Riches at the beginning of lap three. The Frenchman didn't have the pace of the leaders despite starting on the front row and eventually finished the race a disappointed fifth.

"I could see Yvan (Muller) was struggling through the Bomb Hole and Coram," said Neal afterwards. "So I tried to have a little look and then some sand got kicked on to the circuit through Russell, and I think Yvan picked up a bit of that on his tyres which forced him to run wide. I wasn't going to ask twice."

Neal set about chasing after Thompson, and to his surprise the Honda driver found he had the pace at least to stop the Astra pulling away into the distance. "I thought beating Yvan (Muller) was achieveable at the beginning of the weekend and even after qualifying," he said. "But I didn't think Jimmy (Thompson) was and I am amazed how close we stayed to him.

"We were 33kgs heavier than them and the Vauxhall's pretty slippy - it's got a good CD factor down the straights here. Our engine's pretty good, but the Astra's a bit too slippy. I thought if we could get up behind him and use some of his air then we could have a go but on my own I was struggling with the weight."

Tom Chilton took third place after a superb move down the inside of Muller at the Bomb Hole, while MG driver Colin Turkington passed the Frenchman through the Esses on the last lap to take fourth.

Neal's team-mate Dan Eaves beat Rob Collard to sixth while MG star Anthony Reid strategically dropped back to eighth to get a better grid position for race two. James Kaye just lost out to Luke Hines as the pair slowed over the line to grab the tenth place pole slot.

Another to just miss out was Jason Plato. His SEAT's driveshaft broke just before the race. It was repaired in time for him to start from the back. He duly charged through the field, and although he was with the tenth place battle by the end of the race, he could only manage to finish 11th. Team-mate Rob Huff recovered to 13th having been punted off early on.

James Thompson Vauxhall 19m31.349s
Matt Neal Honda +1.753s
Tom Chilton Honda +7.372s
Colin Turkington MG +9.613s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall +9.885s
Dan Eaves Honda +15.429s
Robert Collard Vauxhall + 15.986s
Anthony Reid MG +18.259s
James Kaye Honda +20.454s
Luke Hines Astra +20.461s