ROB Collard is looking to get himself back amongst the leaders of the British Touring Car Championship at Croft this weekend and erase the memory of his last outing at Oulton Park.

The Hook driver failed to finish in the top 10 in all three races at the Cheshire track and was hit by his own team mate Andy Priaulx when he was lying in fourth place in race two.

This broke the suspension of the car and forced Collard to retire, so instead of taking a big points haul from race two, which would have led to a good position on the grid for race three, he was forced to start from 27th on the grid and finished 14th.

Despite the setback, Collard is looking forward to racing at Croft as last season he was twice on the podium at the North Yorkshire track.

He collected two third places as well as a fourth spot for his best points haul of the season and a repeat performance would do very nicely for the Hampshire racer as he tries to close up on the top drivers in the championships.

Collard is currently 10th in the standings on 81 points, while leader Jason Plato has 157, but with 21 points for a race win and 18 races still to go in the championship Collard is far from out of the mix.

Looking ahead to this weekend at Croft, Collard said: “I now have to forget about Oulton Park, what is done is done.

“Croft traditionally has been a circuit where the BMW has done well and I hope I can repeat or even better what I did there last year.

“I have had a lot of podiums at Croft, but never won. Back in 2012 I lost out to Gordon Shedden by the closest-ever winning margin in a BTCC race. Fingers crossed this time I can enjoy a race win.”

Croft added: “This is the last meeting before the season’s summer break, so it would be nice to do well as you have a long time to wait and think about it before you are back on the track again.”

Meanwhile in the MSA Formula Championship, Rob Collard’s son Ricky heads to Croft, leading the way after enjoying a much better time at Oulton Park last time out.

The Hook driver chalked up his second race win of the season to go with one at the opening round and also bagged a second place on the Cheshire track.

In fact, the teenager has collected a podium in all four of the race meetings so far this season and will be looking for this run to continue this weekend.

Talking about his son, Rob Collard said: “Ricky is racing really well at the moment and I think he should continue to do well at Croft as it is a nice circuit to drive.

“At the moment he is having a very consistent season and I hope it continues for him.”