Qual: Thompson stuns

The Yorkshireman, who drives a VX Racing Vauxhall Astra in the BTCC, was drafted in for a one-off meeting at Donington by Alfa Romeo's factory Autodelta squad. The Italian firm is hoping Thompson will help stem the recent domination by rival manufacturer BMW, which has won five of the last six races.

Thompson set the pace in both free practice sessions, one dry and one wet, and then used his circuit knowledge to extract the maximum from his unballasted 156 S2000 to put in a string of fast laps in the dying moments of the session.

"The track was still damp at the start of the session but towards the end it dried up which made it a bit of a lottery towards the end," said Thompson. " I was a bit lucky. The car is driving great and I just needed to get some mileage and in it."

Fabrizio Giovanardi was second fastest as factory 156s took the first four positions on the grid, ahead of regular team-mates Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus.

Jorg Muller was the fastest BMW 320i driver in fifth place, despite running wide at Redgate on his last flying lap of the session. Rickard Rydell was sixth fastest for SEAT.

Championship leader Dirk Muller could only manage eighth fastest behind Jordi Gene in another SEAT. British ETCC regular Andy Priaulx, who currently lies second in the title chase, had a disastrous session however and could only manage 13th fastest time.

James Thompson Alfa Romeo 1m38.698s
Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 1m38.904s
Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo 1m38.994s
Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo 1m39.561s
Jorg Muller BMW 1m39.562s
Rickard Rydell SEAT 1m39.624s
Jordi Gene SEAT 1m39.777s
Dirk Muller BMW 1m39.945s
Salvatore Tavano Alfa Romeo 1m40.043s
Antonio Garcia BMW 1m40.114s