YORK'S James Thompson headed into today's two rounds of the Auto Trader/RAC British Touring Cars Championship knowing that the title could be slipping further away from him by the end of the day.

A frustrated Thompson started the 16-lap Sprint third on the grid and the main 40-lap Feature race in fifth place.

However, he does have a reputation for flying starts and this could keep him in the running.

In the meantime, ahead of him are drivers who have slowly but surely eaten away at the points gap previously enjoyed by the Honda Accord driver.

Harrogate's John Bintcliffe, in the Audi A4, starts the sprint in 14th place, but then moves up to seventh on the grid for the main feature race, his highest spot this season.

Thompson, with five podium places already this season, and lying second in the drivers' championship, was far from happy with his final placing, expecting to be in at least the top three for both events.

Times could have been at least a tenth of a second faster, but hydraulic oil on the track meant drivers have to treat the circuit with caution.

"The car was good and at one time I thought I had done enough to take at least second place on the grid," he said.

"The oil slick probably hurt us because the car's naturally nervous at the rear, so when it has to cope with an oily surface it is worse still."

On the other hand Bintcliffe was pleased with his seventh placing.

Before going out to qualify he said: "The car is fast, but not fast enough." On his return he added: "It's getting better!"

However, he had little to say when he learned he was in 14th place for the Sprint which saw all the top ten drivers return times of under one minute.Round 9 line-up (16-lap sprint, first 10): 1, Alain Menu (Renault Laguna) 59.139 sec; 2, Rickard Rydell (Volvo S40) 59.187; 3, James Thompson (Honda Accord) 59.271; 4, David Leslie (Nissan Primera GT) 59.374; 5, Gianni Morbidelli (Volvo) 59.442; 6, Jason Plato (Renault) 59.584; 7, Anthony Reid (Nissan) 59.587; 8, Matt Neal (Independent/Nissan) 59.716; 9, John Cleland (Vauxhall Vectra) 59.808; 10, Will Hoy (Ford Mondeo) 59.856; 14, John Bintcliffe (Audi A4) 1:00.138.Round 10 (40-lap feature race, first 10): 1, Reid 59.122; 2, Menu 59.150; 3, Leslie 59.313; 4, Plato 59.470; 5, Thompson 59.515; 6, Rydell 59.525; 7, Bintcliffe 59.830; 8, Morbidelli 1:00.036; 9, Peter Kox (Honda Accord) 1:00.042; 10, Neal 1:00.081.

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