OULTON Park proved to be a happy hunting ground for Hook’s British Touring Car driver Rob Collard, who scored two podium finishes in the latest round of the Championship.

The Hook driver made a stunning start in race one as he moved up from fourth to second by the first corner.

He managed to hold the position until the end of the race, finish-ing behind Colin Turkington in a West Surrey Racing ebay Motors one-two.

In his second outing, Collard finished third in his BMW and he was in second place in race three after a storming start, only to be spun round by Jason Plato, which dropped him down the field on his way to 11th.

The Hook driver was delighted with his two podiums, but felt his day could have been better still.

He felt in race two his teammate and championship leader Colin Turkington cost him a place as Collard explained: “In the second race I was running second to Colin and we received a message over our radio about the safety car coming out.

“Colin backed off before the safety car boards were put out around the circuit, so I had to slow down and Rob Austen passed me.”

Collard was also unhappy with the move by Plato in the final race and said: “I was not expecting Jason to make the lunge down the inside of me. I left the door a little open, but the contact put me into a slide and it was tough track to pass anyone.”

Despite some disappointment, Collard moved to fifth in the championship standings.

Collard’s teammate, Odiham’s Nick Foster, having qualified in the top 10, finished eighth in his first race and was holding the same position in race two when forced to pull off the track when his throttle cable broke.

Starting from 26th place on the grid in race three, Foster had excellent race on a circuit in which it was difficult to pass as he finished 15th.

Foster said: “I had a bit of a misfire in race one, but was happy to finish eighth and then in race two I was again holding position and I was gutted when I was forced to pull off the circuit. Then they pull out the number eight for the reverse grid so I would have been on pole and this made me feel worse.

“The conditions being wet for race three helped as I was able to move up the field.”

Meanwhile, in the support races to the BTCC, Collard’s son Ricky also enjoyed two podiums for Falcon Motorsport in the Formula Ford Championships.

This was thanks to victory in the Scholarship class in race one and a second place in race three.

This put him second in the Scholarship class, just four points behind leader Connor Mills.

Jack Rawles had set up issues all weekend and had an eventful opening race in the Ginetta Junior Championship.

The driver, backed by Basingstoke Skip Hire, was passenger in a three-car smash in the opening race.

He returned to the track to take sixth in race two for his Tollbar Racing team, making a great pass on the final lap of the race.

The next rounds of the championship are at Croft on Sunday, June 29.

Collard’s youngest son Jordan, who won the Southern Championship, travels to Larkhill in Scotland to race on the Scottish circuit ahead of the next round of the British Championship in early July.

Meanwhile, Nick Foster’s son Louis will be out of action for a few weeks after breaking his collarbone at the Southern Championship after he came out of his kart.