This week the official FIA World Touring Car Championship website interviews N.Technology Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson, who is hoping to improve his fortunes in Zandvoort after an incident-filled season-opener at Curitiba.

So James, sum up Curitiba for us.

James Thompson: "Obviously Curitiba was a big disappointment. I think we did okay in qualifying given that we'd only had two dry tests in Vallelunga before it. I think I should have been about eighth on the grid, but instead we broke a gearbox output shaft about ten minutes from the end, so we were stuck in the garage when the track was at its fastest at the end and that dropped us down. If I'd have qualified higher then I probably would have avoided the big crash that put us out. To be honest, in qualifying I didn't feel as fast as usual and I know that's a legacy of not having driven the car more than twice in the dry since November, but that will get better."

That crash. How did you see it?

JT: "If I'd seen it I might have avoided it. To be honest, getting caught up in that first corner crash was incredibly frustrating; because I have a great finishing record and I usually get cars to the end. It was just a case of wrong place at the wrong time. The irony is that I made a great start - one of the best for a long time - and I though, okay, we're gonna make up three or four places here, and then... BANG."

So it was a real gargantuan effort from the N.Technology team to fix it for race two then?

JT: "I've got to give so much credit to my boys in the team. After the crash they only had an hour or so to fix my car. When we got it back to the pits it was amazing how much damage we had. The impact had moved the engine and gearbox out of position by nine inches! So they got out the sledgehammer, and drilled holes everywhere and that was real rally-style. I think a few of the boys have worked in rallying so that's where it came from probably. And then they went and did it to [team-mate] Olivier's [Tielemans] car too, so they were really brilliant. Then in the second race I really had to be at 100 per cent. The car felt really second-hand, but what do you expect after a crash like that one. It felt so much like a rally car I thought I'd take a trip through the gravel just to give it the finishing touch."

That must have been difficult.

JT: "I think it probably is easier for me than someone like Olivier to drive around a mangled car like that. I have a rallying background and have now driven over 300 touring car races. I have a lot of experience at jumping into new cars having had not much testing and just adapting them to my style."

The Alfa Romeo you're driving is five years old. How can you still be competitive?

JT: "Where can we improve with a five-year-old car? Well we can take it in a different direction. There wouldn't be any point to me racing if I didn't think I could take the team forward. It will take time. I rate Augusto (Farfus) very high.
 

"He's a nice chap and he's very fast, but last year I think he was helped a lot by the weight penalty rules and that the car was not really so great. He won races only when his weight was minimal. Because of the way the weight worked last year there was such a swing from one team to another from weekend to weekend. Because things have changed - for the good I might add - in that the weight penalties are less, I think we're less likely to have a situation this year when say Alfa dominate one weekend and SEAT the next because of weight. We could be looking at a few times when it is in our favour though, like at Monza and Oschersleben."

Why did you choose to return to N.Technology?

JT: "I would certainly like to have the chance to race the best car, like Andy [Priaulx] is doing, and I'm sure I could win the title if I was in that position, but my scenario is very different. I chose N.Technology because they are the best team I have ever driven for. I love the Italian culture and the way the team is run and organised. I want to be involved with them for the long haul, not just for this season. I think they have the potential to get back to winning titles, but they're not going to do it unless they have drivers that will put the hard graft in, and I believe I am a driver that can do that. You have to be that way if you want to be right at the top end of the sport. I'm looking long-term. I had offers, good offers, to race in the UK this season, but this is the FIA WTCC and it's where I want to be. We're doing it and I really think that as the weight penalties come into play we can win some races later in the season."

But you have to do all the development work yourself, given Tielemans' lack of experience in a Super2000 car.

JT: "To be honest, taking on the development on my own is a good thing for me. If you do it all yourself then you can mould the car to suit you so much better. It really is something that I embrace rather than dislike, because the rewards are greater. The fact that we don't have a big testing programme planned is a drawback for sure but we can certainly do something. The problem is that everyone else is going to test a lot more than us, so you're really up against it. Now that I'm established, the engineers will listen to everything I say. That's an advantage over someone like Olivier. When you're young and you tell a team you can't drive their car they say 'yes you can,' but when you're older they listen to you if you tell them the car is undriveable. I'm not yet comfortable in the Alfa but I'm getting there."