YORK speed king James Thompson was today celebrating back-to-back triumphs to mark a stunning switch.

One week after victory in the opening rounds of the British Touring Car Championships the 27-year-old driver's change of gear into the world of rallying also brought runaway success.

Thompson won the Super 1600 class driving his Peugeot 106 Maxi in the Willingham Recovery North Humberside Rally.

The York ace was tenth overall in the event, but far more significant was that he pipped Gary Wilkes from the Ford Puma works team by no less than 16 seconds.

That has given Thompson plenty of heart to go into the first round of the British Rally Championships, where he will compete in six of the seven scheduled rounds. The opening salvo guns into action in Gateshead at the end of this month.

Between now and then however, Thompson has to negotiate his next outing in the Touring Car Championships - a hectic schedule of which he is relishing every second.

"I'm quite chuffed with having back-to-back wins in the two different sports," Thompson told the Evening Press today.

"The rally win was against a lot of the people who I will be going up against in the British Rallying Championships, so it was good to prove myself competitive against them."

Updated: 11:27 Monday, April 08, 2002