NORTH Hampshire British Touring Car drivers Rob Collard and Nick Foster, had a tough time at the latest round of the championship at Snetterton on Sunday.

Both e-bay Motors BMW drivers found life tough in qualifying, with Odiham’s Foster starting 16th and Hook’s Collard three places further back.

In race one, Foster’s outing lasted just half a lap as he was hit by Dave Newsham, while Collard came through to finish ninth.

Things were looking good for the Hook driver in race two, until he was knocked off the track by Sam Tordoff. He fought his way back and had to settle for 18th.

Foster had his best race of the day, as moved up 16 places from the back of grid to finish 14th.

The Odiham man then saw his next outing cut short on lap three, as Martin Depper lost control in front of him and slid across the track taking Foster into the crash barriers.

Meanwhile, Collard managed to record his best result of the afternoon at the Norfolk circuit, as he finished sixth, to leave him still fifth overall in the championship, which is led by team mate Colin Turkington.

Collard said: “After a bad qualifying I needed a good first race and felt ninth was a good result. This put me in a good position to do well in race two and for the reverse grid in race three.

“I was going well in race two until for the second time this year I was taken off by a works MG and this left me nearly last and had to battle back. I got a sixth place in the final race, so in the end it was a positive outcome and it was certainly a lot better than Snetterton last year.”

Looking back over his three races Foster said: “It was a disaster really. I was punted off in race one and then having recovered things in race two, I was behind Martin Depper in the last race.

“I saw him start to slide and thought, as he corrects it I will go up the inside, but unfortunately for me, the slide got worst and I was fully committed going 100mph and this ended my race.”

Both drivers are next in action when the championship moves to Knockhill in Scotland on Sunday August 24.