Honda on top in UK and Europe.

It may not have won the BTCC title in 2000, but the Honda team went out on a high with a double win at Silverstone to match its exploits in Europe this season.

With the BTCC over and done with for another year, and the Super Touring season drawing to a close elsewhere, Honda is celebrating success on two fronts thanks to the race-winning form of its Accord model. In the British championship, the Redstone-backed Tom Kristensen ended his maiden BTCC campaign with two victories in one evening at Silverstone, while victory in the Czech Republic for JAS Engineering's Peter Kox moved the Dutchman into the lead of the European Championship.

Kristensen's Accord was the star of the final two rounds of the BTCC at Silverstone, spectacularly winning both the Sprint and Feature races to record Honda's first ever double victory in championship history. The Dane's success in the later event also marked up the third win a row for the marque, following on from team-mate Gabriele Tarquini's victory at Oulton Park a week earlier.

''It's fantastic!'' Kristensen said, ''The Accord has been so good recently, and to end the season on such a high is great for me and for Redstone Team Honda. In the end, the Accords have been the quickest. We wanted to show that, we wanted to go out and win.''

Honda has indeed gone out and won, with the statistics proving that the Accord has been the pick of the BTCC field for much of the year. Since Knockhill back in May, Honda has been the top-scoring manufacturer in the championship, dominating the last two-thirds of the season by amassing 348 Manufacturers' Championship points compared to the 340 of champions Ford and 271 of Vauxhall.

''We've had a run of very successful results in the last few races,'' admitted head of motorsport William de Braekeleer, ''Tom's double victory was preceded by Gabriele Tarquini's Oulton Park win just over a week ago, so the Accord has certainly been the car to beat in recent events. It is just shame that our early season form was rocked by accidents - mostly not the fault of our drivers, either! We lost James Thompson for four races after a heavy impact at Brands Hatch in April, but you have to accept that kind of bad luck when you go racing.''

The Accord's prowess in the European Super Touring Cup is also plain to see. Kox's victory in round nine at Brno has put him into the lead of the Drivers' standings, and is testament to the season-long consistency of the JAS Accord.

Just two rounds remain in the ESTC, leaving Kox as the favourite to claim the title. Victory in this major championship will be a superb was to round off an excellent year of Super Touring competition for Honda.