YORK racer James Thompson went from zero to hero after a dramatic opening to the Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

A mechanical problem at the start of the Easter weekend saw the Vauxhall Motorsport driver forced to start both races from the back of the grid, but that could not keep him out of the points.

Thompson lost a first engine in qualifying, forcing him to the back of the grid, and things went from bad to worse as he lost a second engine before managing to complete a lap of the 19-lap sprint race.

The Vauxhall mechanics worked round the clock to fit a third engine to his Astra Coup in time for the 25-lap feature and Thompson repaid their hard-work with a scintillating drive.

Despite the appearance of the safety car twice, Thompson carved his way through the field and, aided by an ultra-quick pit-stop, he managed to edge ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller to take a superb victory.

Thompson said: "I've never won a race from the back before and I wasn't expecting the win so I'm really chuffed with a feature race win.

"It was a great result, the guys did a fantastic job changing the engine and set-up between races.

"It seems that everything was against me this weekend after being so comfortable in testing so it's good to come away from the weekend with 15 points."

Thompson's team-mate Muller currently shares the leadership after the opening two races with Egg Sport Vauxhall's Matt Neal, the winner of the sprint race.

Thompson is positioned nicely in fourth spot, just behind Anthony Reid (MG ZS).

Jim Edwards jnr made the most of John Batchelor's absence to gain Team B&Q Jet York City Racing their first points in the production section of the championship.

Edwards, the team-mate of boss and York City owner Batchelor, finished fourth in the production stages of the sprint race to pick up eight points. However, he could not follow it up in the feature race with Edwards failing to finish.

Updated: 11:50 Tuesday, April 02, 2002