ROB Collard ended his trip to Croft with a super drive from the back, but was left to what would have been.

In the first race of the day in the British Touring Car Championships at the North Yorkshire track having qualified well in seventh and moved up a place to finish sixth.

In race two the Hampshire racer was just getting into the mix lying in fifth position, when a puncture on lap 10 forced him to limp back to the pits.

This left him 28th on the grid for final race before the summer break and Collard produced one of the drives of the day as by lap 13 he was up to 15th.

In the end he came in 12th, making up 16 positions on a track that is notoriously difficult to overtake on.

After the race Collard said: “We made some changes for the last race and the car came alive. It was tragic to get a puncture in race two, because that just took us out of the mix for the reversed grid and would have put me in the top-eight in the points.

"Looking at the positives, it was a very strong race and to overtake 16 cars around here is really good. It was a really exciting race to drive.”

Next up for Collard is a trip to Snetterton on July 28, while youngest son Jordan is in action the week before in the Mini Challenge series.