ROB Collard enjoyed an eventful weekend at the second British Touring Car Championship meeting of the season, recovering from a poor qualifying session to lead the final race.

Having moved up the field over the course of the first two races, the Hook driver stormed off the front row of the grid in race three, taking the lead from pole sitter Josh Cook, which he held for a few laps before Cook managed to get past him.

Both drivers then drove away from the rest of the field, but on lap seven a crash between Jack Goff and Sam Tordoff forced the safety car on track and the gap was gone.

From the re-start, the charging Aron Smith passed Collard and then, as he diced with leader Cook, the two went off the track at the Craner Curves.

Smith just missed the Hook driver as he returned to the circuit and while Collard returned to the front with two laps left, he was on the soft tyres. Unable to keep top spot, he had to settle for fourth place.

Earlier in the day, the Hook driver fought his way up from 19th after a poor qualifying to finish eighth in the first race and he then came sixth in race two, beating Cook by 0.0009 in a photo finish.

Collard said: “We had a few issues in qualifying, but we changed the car dramatically overnight and race one was fun as I made lots of passes to get up to eighth.

“We showed similar form to grab sixth in race two, while race three was one of the most exciting and dramatic I have been involved in. I think I would have finished first or second if it was not for the safety car.”

He added: “I saw Aron Smith go off the circuit and knew he would come back on, so I just put my foot down and hoped he would miss me, which he did. To get fourth with the soft tyre was a great result in race three and I think that over the whole weekend I passed more cars than anyone else.”

Three solid points finishes saw Collard move up to seventh in the championship, 22 points behind leader Matt Neal.

Rob Collard’s son Ricky moved up to second in the MSA Formula Championship after a couple of second places at Donington.

The teenager was sixth in the first outing on Saturday, but finished second in his first race on Sunday.

Collard completed a great day’s racing with another second place after a super start as he moved up four places on the first lap, going from seventh to third. He gained another place to end up second at the chequered flag.

Both drivers will be hoping to continue their excellent start to the season when they race in the next round at Thruxton on May 10.