York's James Thompson drives into the first two rounds of the British Touring Car Championship tomorrow at Brands Hatch banking on speed, guile and confidence to guide him eventually to the championship title.

His confidence in the revamped Super Tourer Honda Accord, despite collecting so many dents last season, is strong.

"You have to be positive in this game. It is no good lining up for the start thinking 'Why am I here?' No, the car is running well, and I think I will do well," he said.

"Hopefully I have enough speed, guile and experience to win the championship. Honda has put a lot into the BTCC and it certainly deserves the top reward."

But Thompson, who finished fourth last season, is not the only British driver seeking the crown. Vauxhall's new signing Jason Plato, of Oxford, and Ford's Scottish ace Anthony Reid are also bidding to become the first British driver to take the title since 1995.

The foreign challengers include Switzerland's Alain Menu (champion in 1997) and Sweden's Rickard Rydell (1998 champion) teaming up in the Ford Mondeo for the first time, and one of Thompson's team partners, former Formula One ace Gabriele Tarquini, who won the title in 1994.

New this season is Class B, a category for cars less technologically developed than the Super Tourers. These are expected to provide a fascinating race within a race, as the ten competitors fight for their own title.

Among the newcomers are saloon specialists Robert Collard and Marc Nordon, both in cars run by former Audi British Touring Car Championship driver and race-winner John Bintcliffe, of Knaresborough.

Another change is the introduction of success ballast, a move designed to help keep the BTCC racing close and exciting and prevent domination by any one team.

The first three finishers in each race will have weight added to their cars for the whole of the next meeting. A race-winner receives 40kg, second place gets 30kg and third 20kg (to a maximum of 40kg).

New rules ban tyre warmers, giving drivers less grip in the early stages of the race, and there are no intermediate tyres, only slick or wet-weather rubber.

The first and second rounds will be on the 2.62-mile Grand Prix

layout at Brands Hatch. BBC Grandstand cameras will be there. The first round (Sprint Race, 14 laps, 36.7miles) starts at 12.45pm, the second round (Feature Race, 28 laps, 73.4miles) at 4pm. The Feature Race includes a mandatory pit-stop for Super Touring cars to change a minimum of two wheels.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.