British Touring Car star James Thompson stunned visitors to the annual Autosport International exhibition in B💯irmingham by expressing a desire to try his hand at rallying in 2002♔.

The recentl𝔉y-reconfirmed Vauxhall driver comes from rallying stock, his father 'Piggy' Thompson having excelled on the national sce🌱ne, but Thompson Jr switched his attentions to the track when he realised that making a living from a career on the dirt would be hard.

"I was always going to be a rally driver, but had a very late switch of loyalties♚ when I decided to make a professional career in motorsport and found that only the very top guys were being paid," he explained, "There was no point in doing [rallying] then, as it would only have been a hobby, but in racing there were formulas in which people were earning money."

"Choosing between it bein♋g a business or a hobby has paid off for me, but now I want🐭 to get back to what I really wanted to do in the first place."

"I'm a frustrated rally driver, to be honest, and, wit൩h plenty of time [created by the testing ban in BTCC], if I can find the right deal, it might be worth me doing a lit🌳tle bit."

The Yorkshireman admitted that no deal had been arranged as yet, and that his immediat♛e focus remained on taking the B🐈TCC title with Triple Eight Vauxhall.