Red-hot action in Donington decider.

Temperatures will rise over this weekend at Donington Park as the Green Flag 2002 MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) reaches fever pitch in the grand finale of what has turned out to be the hottest motorsport series this year. With the drivers title still up for grabs, who will stand the heat to take to the prize?

A spectacular weekend of racing is guaranteed as the Derbyshire circuit plays host to the last of three 'Super Weekenders', where the cream of the UK's single seater, sports and saloon car series line up to support the headline Green Flag British Touring Car Championship. Fans can expect to witness action from the British Formula 3 Championship, the British GT Championship and the fabulous new World Sportscar Invitation Trophy. And Formula Renault, Renault Clio, Porsche Cup and Formula Ford will also provide vivid dawn to dusk racing over the weekend.

But it is undoubtedly the final rounds of the Green Flag BTCC that will provide the biggest thrills and spills on track. Vauxhall Motorsport sewed up both the BTC Touring Teams' Championship and the BTC Touring Manufacturers' Championship at the penultimate rounds of the series at Brands Hatch over three weeks ago.

The winning equipe was forced to postpone full celebrations after a dire weekend for championship leader James Thompson and a meeting of mixed fortunes for closest rival and team-mate Yvan Muller - which has resulted in the BTC Touring Drivers' Championship going down to the wire.

The collection of disasters that Thompson encountered at Brands Hatch - suspension failure, being punted off the circuit by Muller and a sixth engine change - have cut the Yorkshireman's lead from 24 points to just four. This has now generated an electric three way battle for the coveted Champion's trophy between Thompson, 2001 Runner-up Muller and Egg Sport's Matt Neal.

Thompson commented: "This is my ninth year in the BTCC and I desperately want this to be my year. I am disappointed with Brands Hatch - I just seemed to be plagued by bad luck. I am determined that my winning streak will return but at the end of the day motorsport is unpredictable and I can only do my best. Whatever the outcome, the battle will be a sight to behold!"

But the grand finale will be no walk in the park for Vauxhall Motorsport or for its sister team, Egg Sport. Although fairly safe in the knowledge that the Drivers' Championship laurels will be claimed within the Vauxhall camp, each of its competitors has its own agenda that cannot be discounted when the combatants take to the track for the final time this season.

This was a lesson well learnt in the 2001 BTCC rebuild year. Confident of a clean sweep of wins, the Vauxhall focus turned to refereeing the main title fight between its very own drivers, Yvan Muller and Jason Plato. This was until MG Sport & Racing joined the fray towards the end of the season and, at the final rounds at a rain soaked Brands Hatch, Anthony Reid rudely interrupted Vauxhall's glorious reign on the top step of the podium, preventing the team from taking all 26 possible wins.

This attacking stance seems to have exploded into the 2002 season with MG's Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes claiming twelve podium finishes and three wins between them, including a superb double win at the penultimate rounds at Brands Hatch. Currently sitting fourth in the standings, Reid will certainly be breathing fire on the Vauxhall Astra Coup? bumper of third placed Neal. And if Lady Luck disappears from the Oxon based Vauxhall outfit and descends on the most British of marques, MG, the end result could send shock waves through the paddock. A mirror Brands Hatch performance for Thompson and a very unhealthy race meeting for Muller and Neal could see Reid take the championship title from under their noses. It's all to play for!

Newcomers Honda Racing and Team Petronas Syntium Proton have also turned the heat up on the Vauxhall dominance throughout the season with Honda's Andy Priaulx taking his first win at the challenging Knockhill Circuit - and Scotsman David Leslie standing proudly on the rostrum a respectable four times for Team PSP. Currently fifth in the standings and supported by his team-mate Alan Morrison, Priaulx will be charged with fending off the advances of Hughes and Egg Sport's Paul O'Neill, the Liverpudlian who is determined to stop being the meat in between the Hughes and Leslie points sandwich and move up the standings.

In addition to the Drivers' Championship action, spectators have also been treated to a torrid war of shunts, showdowns and scarred cars in the BTC Touring Independents' Cup (open to BTC Touring drivers who are not entered with manufacturer support), which will reach its climax at Donington. Former World Superbike star Aaron Slight is heading the championship for Barwell Motorsport. But he is to face a serious two pronged title attack in the form of Team Halfords' Tim Harvey and Dan Eaves, both of whom are ultimately unwilling to share the spoils of victory in their Peugeot 406 Coup?s. The Cup is also within reach for Team Atomic Kitten's young gun Gareth Howell but he will have his work cut out defending his racing line from his team mate Colin Turkington, the ever eager Tom Chilton (Barwell Motorsport) and Team Halford's Carl Breeze.

The BTC Production Drivers' Championship and Teams' Championship are also up for grabs this weekend, so expect the battles to be fast, furious and unforgiving further down the field. Synchro Motorsport's James Kaye is sitting comfortably in the lead from Edenbridge Racing's Norman Simon. Only a disastrous no points scoring weekend for Kaye would allow the energetic German to take the championship silverware from the 2000 and 2001 Runner-up. Simon has already secured overall second place and, with no-one to touch his BMW 320i, the attention will inevitably focus on the fight for third place.

Beacon Motorsport's Spencer Marsh presently sits third in the standings but Team B&Q Jet York City's Jim Edwards Jnr, Gary Ayles Motorsport's notoriously quick Gavin Pyper and Edenbridge Racing's playful Tom Boardman are all determined to throw down the gauntlet for overall third place honours. And all parties will be racing for team points to bring home the Teams' Championship title. After missing four rounds and still managing to knock up an impressive seven podium finishes and four wins, Scot Pyper has to be the favourite to shake up the points table as the chequered flag is waved.

A hugely competitive jam-packed grid boasting five manufacturers, finely tuned sporting regulations and raw talent oozing from every racing chassis, ensures that the closing rounds of the 2002 season will be something to remember. Vauxhall Motorsport is still the benchmark team to beat with its star driver line-up of Thompson and Muller clocking up 21 podium finishes to date including ten wins.

But with the seventeenth and final Touring car on the grid now qualifying an average of just over half a second behind the poleman, it is clear that not only has the BTCC re-affirmed its position as one of the most prestigious Touring car series in the world but it is only time before Vauxhall's team crown is worn by another. Whatever the future, the final showdown of the 2002 season is sure to be a titanic clash of egos and testosterone that simply cannot be missed