- The official entry list for the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship has been unveiled with 27 cars set to take to the grid.

- Fears of an Alfa-less grid in 2008 have been eased with the news that Team 48 Motorsport has entered a pair of the Italian machines. The team, backed by ex-footballers John Barnes and Luther Blisset intend to run the two 156s that were driven by A-Tech Motorsport's David Pinkney and Richard Marsh in 2007. The display car at Rockingham is a rather fetching shade of green. (Photos in the gallery.)

- Jason Hughes' entry shows a Honda Integra, however, the Team KWR driver still has his MG ZS here at Rockingham. We understand the Integra is still in the possession of one David Pinkney.

- Motorbase Performance are on the entry list with Rob Collard and Steven Kane. The two BMWs are running at Rockingham, carrying branding from construction equipment company Komatsu.

- Half an hour into the afternoon test session here at Rockingham and Jason Plato's TDi engine appears to have let go, blasting out a huge trail of smoke around the back of the circuit. It was towed back into the pits and into the SEAT Sport UK garage.

- 45 minutes into the test session and Colin Turkington is quickest. The Team RAC driver has set a time of 1:25.157. The order behind him is: Neal, Jelley, Shedden, Plato, Chilton, Kane, Giovanardi, Jackson, Allison. Stephen Jelley is making the most of the track time, having completed 19 laps.

- The word from SEAT Sport UK is that it wasn't an engine failure for Plato's car. No news yet as to what did cause the trail of smoke from the Leon.

- With an hour and a half of the test session remaining, it's newcomer Stephen Jelley who's setting the pace. The former F3 racer has lapped the Rockingham circuit in a time of 1:24.789, just 0.039 seconds quicker than Vauxhall's Fabrizio Giovanardi. Colin Turkington is third quickest, ahead of Mat Jackson and Matt Neal. Gordon Shedden, Tom Chilton and the two Jordans complete the top ten.

- At the end of the four-hour test session, it's BMW Dealer Team UK's Mat Jackson at the top of the timesheets, with a time of 1:24.385 on his last flying lap of the day. Special mentions also go to Stephen Jelley and Andrew Jordan who were fourth and fifth fastest respectively on their BTCC debuts. Matt Allison impressed in the Robertshaw Racing Chevrolet Lacetti, ending the session seventh fastest. Another debutant, Steven Kane, was ninth quickest for Motorbase Performance, again on his final lap of the session.

- With the day's activities over, a number of teams will be heading for a test at Brands Hatch next week ahead of the opening races on March 30th.