York's James Thompson, who had settled for fourth place in the fourth round Feature Race of the Auto Traders/British Touring Car Championships at Silverstone yesterday, later learned that he had been promoted to third because of a technical infringement by one of the drivers ahead of him.

But the decision came too late for him to take his place on the podium.

Instead that was taken by Frenchman Jean-Christophe Boultion, who was to move into second place after Vauxhall's Yvan Muller was relegated because race stewards ruled that his works Vectra was operating with an incorrect ride height.

But all this drama was played off-stage.

Later Thompson, told of the stewards' decision, said: "It does not make me feel good to know that I have gained extra points that way."

However, Vauxhall officials, mystified by the stewards' ruling, lodged an appeal. Thompson could well find himself back in fourth place.

Despite the controversy, Thompson still heads the drivers' championship table with 43 points, which could increase by a further two if the appeal fails.

Second spot belongs to Renault's Jason Plato with 41 points, 16 of them collected when he won the Feature Race, and third is held by independent Nissan driver Matt Neal with 31 points.

Thompson can count himself fortunate to have finished fourth. As drivers ended their warm-up circuit for the 30-lap Feature race, with its obligatory pitstop to change at least two tyres, it began to rain. Thompson, together with Neal and David Leslie, the Nissan Primera works driver, all headed into the pits to change tyres to cope with a wet track. Consequently Thomspon, who would have started the race from seventh spot, joined the fray at 16th.

It was a gamble that did not really pay off, because although he was able to move through the tail-enders while it drizzled, as soon as it cleared and the track dried out, his Accord dragged its heels.

Fortunately the compulsory pitstop, possible after the fifth lap, enabled the York driver to change back to the dry-weather tyres before he had fallen too far behind. It was a fantastically quick change, in 11.7 seconds and nearly eight seconds faster than that by the Nissan mechanics when Leslie called in for a tyre change.

Thompson then moved rapidly through the field from 11th to eight and finally to fourth, all the way snapping at the heels of third placed Boultion.

Thompson was in reflective mood after the race. Had he not accepted the tyre change it is likely he would have been on the podium anyway. "It was a gamble. If I had not opted for the tyre change, who knows, I might well have won," he said.

Earlier in the day, Thompson had finished fifth in the third round, 15 lap Sprint. He started in fifth place and stayed there. "I was quite happy with that," he said, adding: "The car behaved pretty well, better in fact than during the official testing and qualifying, so I cannot grumble."

Friday's official testing runs saw Thompson spin during one qualifying round, while the engine under-performed during the second.

Meantime, another drama was being played out, this one among the independents, with Yorkshire's gritty Paula Cook showing her driving strength in the DC Cook - sponsored Honda Accord by pulling away from the other independents, and at one stage sitting in fourth place overall. She took the Michelin trophy for the top independent driver of Round Four after Neal had pulled off with engine trouble.

She had held him off for several laps and earlier in the round had had to contend with a couple of rear bumps from other independents.

"I couldn't believe it when they had a go at me. It just made me all the more determined to leave them behind. It was a brilliant race. We have really improved and deserved the place," she said, now lying fourth in the Independents' Championship with 16 points.

Cook started the Sprint 12th on the grid and eight laps on she was bumped and ended up in the gravel with a broken suspension.

The Sprint was won by Frenchman Laurent Aiello with Leslie second, both in Primeras.

A front-wheel puncture proved an untimely setback for Green Hammerton rally driver Miles Johnson as he tackled the second round of the Peugeot 106 Gold Cup rally at Somerset. He lost over four minutes, and although returning the fastest times on the two tarmac stages, was never to recover fully, and finally finished 26th overall.

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