YORK touring car ace James Thompson will literally be in the hot SEAT this year.

The 31-year-old racer will line up in both the World Touring Car and British Touring Car championships for the Spanish marque this season.

"It's a bit like having two girlfriends on the go at the same time - you don't know which one you're supposed to be more attentive to." he joked.

His main focus will be the WTCC where he will contest all 20 races. However, the international calendar allows Thompson to race in 18 of the 30 races in the BTCC.

It promises to be a hectic summer for the man who was BTCC champion in 2004 with VX Racing and 2002 with Vauxhall.

After lifting the second of his titles two years ago he joined the Alfa Romeo team to contest last year's WTCC in which he finished eighth in his debut season, including a win at Monza much to the delight of the Italian-based team.

Thompson, who lives in Harrogate, crossed the Mediterranean and has been pre-season testing with SEAT in a Leon at Almeria, Albacete, Magny-Cours, Valencia and Monza ready for the new season.

"I've done more testing with SEAT Sport in Spain in the World championship car than I have with SEAT Sport UK and the British car. Both are very good teams and very good cars.

"The new Leon is fantastic - it's one of the best cars, if not the best car, I've driven in terms of balance. There is only one area the car is slightly weak in and that's straight-line speed, but that's due to its hatchback shape.

"I believe we have a car that can win races and challenge for the championships. I'm more optimistic than I have been for a number of years."

Although SEAT Sport UK have only been running for three years their two-car line-up of Thompson and 2001 champion Jason Plato will be the most experienced on the BTCC grid.

The duo have made 437 BTCC starts, won 55 races and scored 1,161 points.

Out of his 251 starts, Thompson has won 30 races and contested the series every year since 1994 bar 2005 when he was competing in the WTCC.

His SEAT team-mates in the Barcelona-based WTCC team will be Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini and they will contest the entire race programme, starting at Monza - scene of Thompson's triumph last year - tomorrow.

The BTCC programme - which includes three races each weekend of action - gets underway at Brands Hatch the following weekend.

WTCC calendar

April 2 - Monza, Italy

April 30 - Magny-Cours, France

May 21 - Brands Hatch, England

June 4 - Oschersleben, Germany

July 2 - Curitiba, Brazil

September 3 - Brno, Czech Republic

September 24 - Istanbul, Turkey

October 8 - Valencia, Spain

November 19 - Macau, China

BTCC calendar

*April 9 - Brands Hatch

*April 23 - Mondello Park

*May 14 - Oulton Park

4 June - Thruxton

*16 July - Croft

30 July - Donington Park

*13 August - Snetterton

3 September - Knockhill

24 September - Brands Hatch

*15 October - Silverstone

* Races to be contested by James Thompson.

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, April 01, 2006