RACING stars rolled into Brands Hatch for a three-day test of the fastest touring cars in the world.

Mika Hakkinen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Susie Stoddart were among the famous names testing DTM cars ahead of the championships in July.

Former-Formula 1 champion Damon Hill also dropped in to show his support.

Drivers will meet again to race the 500bhp, V8-engined cars at the championships on July 1 and July 2.

Speaking at a press conference, the racing greats were looking forward to taking on the Brands Hatch indy circuit.

Mika Hakkinen said: "It's good to be back here and it's going to be really spectacular."

Hakkinen set the fastest time on the final morning of testing, beating seven-time Le Mans 24-hour winner Tom Kristensen into second place by a fraction of a second.

Formula 1 race winner Jean Alesi ended the day third, less than three-tenths behind Hakkinen.

After a tense battle, it was Hakkinen who came out on top with a time 0.029 seconds faster than Kristensen's best, and 0.257 faster than Alesi.

Behind the top three, Formula 1 race winner Heinz Harald-Frentzen finished fifth for the day, one place behind Canada's Bruno Spengler.