WHEN York's James Thompson lines up on the grid at Donington for the first of tomorrow's two rounds of the British Touring Car Championship, he will be celebrating his 150th start in the competition.

He will also be looking forward to returning to the successes he was able to enjoy in earlier seasons.

But Thompson knows that, realistically, this is once again not to be his year for lifting the drivers' championship title.

A serious high-speed crash at the opening round at Brands Hatch forced him to miss four important races, and he has had to endure frustrations and failures as his team Honda Accord race car has failed to produce the results he so desperately needs to make up for his missed races.

However, team-mate Gabriele Tarquini topped the testing times at Donington this week, with another Honda driver, Tom Christensen, from Denmark, third fastest.

Thompson was seventh fastest as Honda looked impressive and just need to transfer quick times to race days.

Qualifying races for Donington were taking place take place today.

Round 17, the 15-lap Spring Race, is tomorrow at 12.30pm, with Round 18, the 30-lap Feature .Race, at 4.10pm.