Thompson regains lead as rivals falter

James Thompson regained the lead in the British Touring Car Championship points chase after a day of mixed fortunes at this North Yorkshire track. Two pole positions and a win in round 11 were followed by a retirement in round 12, but with his closest rivals having similar or worse fortunes, Thompson's pickings from the meetings were the richest.

The other win went to the other factory Vauxhall driver Yvan Muller, while David Leslie and Andy Priaulx each took a second place to delight Proton and Honda respectively.

Thompson's win came in a frantic sprint race, packed with incident. The Yorkshireman led all the way, followed closely by Muller until the penultimate lap. Behind there were fires, crashes and a host of place changes. Priaulx opened the action when he ran wide onto the grass and out of third place on the first lap. He dropped to the back of the field, but was up to fourth by the end. That was partly down to a fine comeback drive, but more to the problems of those ahead.

Muller had a puncture, so did Anthony Reid's MG which lost third place, others knocked sumps off on kerbs, caught fire, crashed or deranged suspension on the circuit's tyre-stack markers. Through it all came veteran Leslie to grab a fine second and 20-year-old Colin Turkington to a great third in the MG backed by pop group Atomic Kitten.

Muller's later win came in a relatively calm feature race. He'd taken the lead from poleman Thompson (carrying 66kg more than his team-mate under the series success ballast system) and he led most of the way.

There were problems though. The Astra's water temperature was worryingly high throughout and Muller lost time in a crowded pit lane during his mandatory stop. That meant Priaulx was ahead after the stops and for a while it looked as though he might be able to stay there. Muller was not to be denied though and when the Honda was delayed in traffic he took his chance, moved ahead again and reeled off the laps to take the win.

Priaulx held onto second, trailing a loose rear bumper, but delighted that he'd broken a run of nearly-performances, when he'd looked set to take the first podium finish of Honda's current programme, but failed.

Reid partly made up for the disappointment of his sprint race retirement with a strong run to third place, while Dan Eaves cheered independent squad Team Halfords with fourth place in the Peugeot 406.

Matt Neal, the points leader before the weekend, left with nothing after crashing out of round 11 and retiring with engine failure in round 12.