Preview: Silverstone.

This weekend sees Silverstone host rounds seven and eight of the Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship for what promises to be yet another entertainment packed weekend at the UK's premier Motorsport venue.

Frenchman Yvan Muller leads the charge having made light work of his success-ballast penalty to take a superb double victory at Thruxton two weeks ago [25-26 May].

Muller extended his lead over VX Racing team-mate and reigning Champion James Thompson after slick team-work by his pit crew put him ahead of Honda Racing's Matt Neal.

Thruxton's round six also saw Neal provide the major challenge in race two, leading the field until a puncture thwarted his charge and hopes of challenging the Vauxhalls in the overall standings. Team-mate Alan Morrison had better luck in race two however, hanging on to second place and leap-frogging Neal to assume fourth in the Championship.

Returning to the BTCC grid for the first time in 2003 with the GA Motorsport / Team Dynamics outfit is 21 year old Gareth Howell. Howell contested the 2002 Green Flag BTCC with the MG satellite operation, Team Atomic Kitten, and can't wait to get behind the wheel at Silverstone.

''I'm absolutely delighted to be back out on the track and can't begin to thank the GA and Team Dynamics boys for the opportunity to drive in the BTCC again. It should be quite a challenge, having never driven a left-hand drive car before and as I only got the call on Thursday, we won't have time to test either. I just hope we can pull together enough funding to make this more than a one-off opportunity,'' commented Howell.

Amongst the local talent hoping to impress the home crowd are two of the most experienced drivers on the grid. Banbury-based Team Petronas Syntium Proton driver David Leslie is the oldest driver in the BTCC at 49, and is in not only his 11th BTCC season but amazingly, the fourth decade of his motorsport career.

MG Sport and Racing's Anthony Reid hails from near-by Oxford, and aside from competing in his seventh BTCC season, the 46 year old also holds 18 British land speed records with Volvo.

Having finished in fourth place ahead of reigning Champion James Thompson in the last race, Reid will be looking to build on the progress made by the Longbridge manufacturer in front of his home crowd. However, the VX Racing crew won't exactly be in alien territory either - they are prepared in Banbury by Triple Eight Race Engineering.

While Muller heads to Silverstone 20 points clear in the overall standings, it's an altogether different story in the Hilton Independents trophy. James Kaye leads the table for Synchro Honda Racing, with 48 points, but GA Motorsport's Gavin Pyper is a mere three points behind him and ready to pounce at the first opportunity.

For those who can't make it to Silverstone to see the action firsthand, Motors TV will once again show all of the action, live at 11.30BST (Race 1), and 16.10BST (Race 2) on Sunday 8th June, with terrestrial coverage on ITV1 on Saturday 15th June at 16.00BST.