James Thompson: I want my title back!

By Verity Smith:

18 March 2004

The 2002 Champion took the fight with Yvan Muller right to the wire last year but missed out at the final round. This year he stays with VX and will be looking to regain his crown, and while his car was being checked over during the pre-season test at Donington we spoke to James.

Obviously you'll be planning on getting your title back this year?

Oh I hope so! I don't want to be second again, I want to win it. It's going to be pretty hard, the rule changes themselves will make such a big difference to the races. There's going to be a lot of overtaking with these reverse grids.

I don't want to be second again, I want to win it
James Thompson

Losing the pitstops will be a disadvantage too: we had the best drilled team and the quickest car. This meant we were usually starting at the front of the field and had a good chance of winning the races. Now effectively we can be starting tenth and with maximum ballast so it's going to be pretty hard to win the second race of a weekend.

But I suppose if that gives us lots of different winners then that will be good for the championship. It's going to make it harder for any one person to win the championship from a racing point of view, but it should provide great entertainment which at the end of the day is what we're here to do.

With VX running four cars will that make life any easier for you?

Not really because I put myself under a lot of pressure to race well. Of course it would be great to win the manufacturer's title but of course it's the driver's championship which is foremost in my mind.

I think with the competitive drivers we've got we should stand a very good chance of winning the manufacturer's, so hopefully it's just a question of which one of us will take the driver's title - unless of course Matt or Jason have got other ideas!

There's a whole host of people who could be our rivals. With the way the rules are you can't discount anybody really. You don't drop any scores so reliability's going to be an aspect: if you break down in any races you'll have to start from the back of the grid in the next.

It's a very very open year - I'd say it's probably the most open we've had in a long time.

What have you been doing to keep yourself busy over the winter?

Training, a load of training! I've been getting in shape for the marathon, I'm knackered now!

No rallying this year, which is a bit disappointing but it's also giving me a bit more time and letting me be a little more refreshed.

How've you been finding training for the London Marathon?

It takes up a lot of time. I've been spending two hours or more running, then by the time you come in, shower and get changed that's half your day gone. It's hard work! I'm excited about it but also looking forward to getting it out of the way.

What are you working on at the test this afternoon?

Well when the wheels are staying on the car it's not going too badly! There's a couple of things we're working on with the car but mainly I want to do some race simulation runs.

What was the problem with the wheel earlier?

Dunno - it just came off! Seriously we don't know yet, it's just one of those head-scratching moments but I'm sure it won't happen again!



James Will be running the Flora London Marathon in April to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. For more information or to sponsor him, please click here.