Teams must hurry to catch Aiello

If anyone is going to fight Laurent Aiello for the championship, they must make their mark this weekend or it will be too late.

When the series began here back in April, Aiello failed to trouble the scorers, taking 11th in race one and crashing out of race two.

Honda's James Thompson and Nissan independent Matt Neal took the victories, but while Neal is still second in the championship, Thompson has fallen way off the pace. He was quick in testing however, and could bounce back this weekend.

The Fords are beginning to establish themselves as Nissan's main opposition. Anthony Reid took his first BTCC win here this time last year, while his team mate Alain Menu has been a regular frontrunner this year.

They have come tantalisingly close to victory in 1999, and if the Nissan challenge falters, it could be a Ford that picks up the pieces.

Jason Plato has been fast in the Renault but a series of engine failures have cost him a huge number of points.

Williams have pledged to solve the problems, in which case he could take his second win of the season at Donington and establish himself as Aiello's main challenger.

The Volvos have been quick without actually winning a race, whereas the Vauxhall team has been the opposite. The Vectras have never really looked like frontrunners but the heroic Yvan Muller still managed to drag one to victory at Brands Hatch.

Volvo, Vauxhall, Ford, Renault and Honda all think they have a chance, but the smart money is still on two more Nissan wins on Sunday.

But will it be Laurent Aiello taking the glory and extending his points lead yet further, or can his unlucky team mate David Leslie take a much-needed win to rescue his dismal season?

It may be that they both find themselves behind Matt Neal again, which would certainly please the enthusiastic Midlands crowd who cheered him to victory here three months ago.