Colin Turkington has extended his lead in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship Independents' standings following the penultimate rounds of the season at Silverstone.

While the Team RAC man saw the gap to Mat Jackson in the fight for third overall come down to just three points after the fellow BMW driver took a win in race three, Turkington benefitted from a hat-trick of top three finishes amongst the Independent runners to open his Indy advantage to 22 points heading to Brands Hatch – with 45 points still to play for.

Having qualified in third place, Turkington lost places off the start to drop down to fifth but was able to battle back as the race wore on and clinched fourth place in the closing laps having found a way past points leader Fabrizio Giovanardi three laps from the flag.

Turkington also lost places at the start of race two, before fighting his way into a podium position, taking the flag second behind Giovanardi but benefitting from problems for Jackson to extend his Independents advantage.

He looked set to fight for victory in race three after moving through the field from ninth into second in the opening laps. However, contact from Tom Onslow-Cole exiting the final corner saw him drop back down the order and while he fought back to fourth, it was very much a case of what might have been.

"Team RAC has scored consistently throughout the day and a win in the last race would have topped it off," he said. "To be honest, I am pretty frustrated at Tom Onslow-Cole's move which was needless in the extreme.

"Despite the points gap, I won't be taking anything for granted when it comes to the Independents title. Mat Jackson has had a good day, but I am feeling confident going into Brands Hatch where I think we can get the job done."