Having missed out on victory during the last round of the season at
Brands Hatch, James Thompson will aim to give N.Technology reason to cheer as the World Touring Car Championship heads to Monza for the final European round of the season.
The Briton scored points in both of his home races last month to climb to fifth in the championship standings and will aim to continue his recent rich run of form on the home circuit for his Italian team – with the Alfa Romeo 156 expected to be one of the strongest packages around the high-speed Monza circuit.
"I've got a pretty good chance at Monza if you look at the stats," he said. "Historically the Alfa Romeo is really good around Monza. Augusto Farfus won in the 156 last year and I won in the same car the year before so I've just got to keep the winning streak going!"
Thompson will look to add to his current victory tally with the ever-improving Alfa Romeo package and said his focus remained on retaining a mathematical chance of the title into the season finale in Macau.
"We always planned to come into our own in the second half of the season," he said. "We used the first few race meetings to develop the car and it's improved no end. For me, the year began in Anderstorp so I couldn't be more pleased with how things are going. My only regret is that we didn't win at Brands Hatch because we seemed to have the pace for it.
"Monza should be just as good; I love the circuit and know it really well. I'm hoping that by the time we leave Italy I will have gone some way to getting my goal of two more victories before the end of the season."
Team-mate Olivier Tielemans will be competing on one of the circuits he knows on the calendar and remains confident of trying to secure his first points finish of the campaign.
"I guess this is the nearest I'll get to driving a
Ferrari in front of the Tifosi, which has to be every driver's dream!" he said. "The Alfa Romeo just gets better and better and I think I've proved this year that I can compete. Now I just need to cap it off with a good result for the team."
