York driver James Thompson will be showing his true colours at the MSA British Touring Car Championship night race at Silverstone on Saturday.

He'll be hoping that the future really is orange.

That's the colour he will carry on his egg.sport Vauxhall Astra Coupe to help differentiate between the cars.

The Astras have dominated the championship podium so far this year and although the cars are gathering success ballast, Yvan Muller's double win at Oulton Park whilst carrying 42kgs illustrates the cars' sheer power and strength.

Muller leads the drivers' championship with 70 points with Thompson hot on his heels 12 points behind in second place.

Both Muller and Thompson will carry maximum weight ballast at Silverstone.

Thompson finished second in both sprint and feature races at Oulton Park in the last rounds.

Oxfordshire-based Astra driver Jason Plato, who lies third in the championship on 68 points, took podium positions in three of last year's four night races and is expecting to pose a serious threat at Silverstone.

The teams will have just one 15-minute night practice session on Friday before a full day racing on Saturday.

Qualifying takes place between 2.45pm and 3.15pm with the pit walkabout and autograph session at 5pm giving fans the opportunity to meet their heroes in person.

The evening's races begin at 7.35pm with the 15-lap sprint, which is followed by the main 30-lap feature race at 10.10pm.

Television coverage will be shown the following weekend on BBC Grandstand.

Updated: 11:48 Friday, June 01, 2001