TOCA Tour heads for Knockhill.

The notoriously tight and twisty 1.3 mile Knockhill Circuit is the venue for Rounds 15 and 16 of the Green Flag 2002 MSA British Touring Car Championship this weekend (10/11 August), as the UK's premier motorsport series makes its sole visit to the popular Fife venue.

With just three race weekends to run - and a possible 35 points available per double-header weekend - the drivers' title race is still wide open. Vauxhall Motorsport's James Thompson currently heads the table with 146 points, from team mate Yvan Muller on 121 and fellow Vauxhall runner Matt Neal for Egg Sport on 100. All three have suffered their fair share of bad luck this season, but Neal has suffered most of late, clocking up four straight retirements over the past two meetings.

Although Vauxhall dominated proceedings at the beginning of the season, new manufacturer entries MG Sport and Racing, Honda Racing and Team Petronas Syntium Proton have all begun to take the fight to the reigning champions.

Anthony Reid and team mate Warren Hughes lie fourth and sixth overall respectively for MG and, as the only non-Vauxhall race winners this season (Hughes), the team will be looking for more of the same from local hero Reid next weekend.

Splitting the two MG drivers is Honda's Andy Priaulx, who is just seven points off Reid in fifth. Both Priaulx and team mate Alan Morrison have presented arguably the greatest threat to Vauxhall over the past few rounds, although a combination of bad luck and ongoing development issues have restricted them to just two podium finishes.

Scottish legend David Leslie has so far scored an impressive four podium places for new outfit Team Petronas Syntium Proton. He will be gunning for more glory this weekend in an effort to promote Team PSP into a potential top six finish in the BTC Touring Drivers' Championship.

Expect a clash of the titans between experienced Scots Leslie and Reid as these Touring car exponents battle for the hearts and minds of their home crowd - and a bucketful of essential championship points!

The desperate chase for points isn't limited to the title protagonists. Competition between Barwell Motorsport, Team Halfords and the Team Atomic Kitten MG outfit is coming to a head in the hard-fought Independents' Cup. Re-introduced for 2002, the Independents' Cup is a separate category within the main Touring Class for drivers who are not entered with manufacturer support.

Kiwi Aaron Slight (Barwell) currently holds a slim six point advantage back to Dan Eaves (Halfords), but the Atomic Kitten duo of Howell and Turkington will undoubtedly present the greatest opposition at Knockhill. Both drivers have recently been mixing it at the front with the works drivers, with Turkington finishing in the top six overall in all but one of the previous four races.

Things are also hotting up in the Production Class, which has provided hugely entertaining racing throughout the field this season. Synchro Motorsport's James Kaye has been the man to beat from the outset and, as last year's Runner-up, nothing less than the title crown will do.

His four race wins to date are matched only by Norman Simon, the affable German who campaigns a BMW 320i for Edenbridge Racing. Simon is currently 51 points behind Kaye in the standings, so must look for class wins next weekend if he is to take the championship fight down to the wire.

There are a number of other Production runners capable of spoiling the Kaye/Simon battle, all of whom still have an outside shot at the title. Spencer Marsh, who drives for new team Beacon Motorsport, lies just nine points shy of Simon, having been on the podium at every meeting bar one this season.

Although not really featuring last time out at Snetterton, Jim Edwards Junior has been consistently up the sharp end in his Team B&Q Jet York City Honda Accord, as has Alan Blencowe who drives an Alfa 156 for GA Motorsport. Just ahead of Blencowe in fifth place overall is young Tom Boardman, who scored a fifth and third place finish at Snetterton.

The Norfolk venue provided the closest, cleanest Production race seen all year and it was a young Scottish driver who took away the greatest points haul. Gavin Pyper, who notched up his second race win of the year and a second place finish, came into the championship late so isn't in a position to challenge for overall honours. However the rapid Scot from Blairgowrie will be no holds barred for the GA equipe in his pursuit of more race victories at his home circuit.

The cream of Scottish racing talent will be determined to uphold local honours at Knockhill next weekend - so those racing fans who want to witness the thrills and spills of the Green Flag BTCC at first hand, should call the ticket hotline on: 01383 723337.

Green Flag BTCC qualifying takes place at 15.20 on Saturday 10th August, with the Sprint Race scheduled for 12.15 on Sunday 11th and the Feature Race due to kick off at 15.45.