Colin Turkington has praised his Team RAC outfit after a fine weekend at Croft saw him secure the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship title lead at the half way point of the season.

The Northern Irishman headed to the North East trailing Matt Neal by just two points in the standings, and closed to within a single point after putting his BMW 320si on pole position.

The two-time defending Independents' champion then led the opening race from start to finish ahead of team-mate Stephen Jelley, and repeated the feat in the second race of the day to strengthen his lead.

Despite the onset of rain for the final race, Turkington again outscored Neal by taking sixth place and now goes into the summer break with a 25 point advantage at the head of the standings.

“What a fantastic day,” he said. “I am delighted to be leading the Championship. The success is down to a real team effort. WSR have given Stephen and I great cars, and we are performing at our best and taking full advantage of the good conditions. I will go in to the mid-season break full of confidence and I'm already eager to get back behind the wheel at Snetterton.

“I am a bit surprised we were so much quicker than the Vauxhalls today – I thought they'd be closer. But we're no fools. We know they will return in August really strong so we have to try to keep this momentum going. To have the advantage I've got is a real bonus, but we've still got half the season still to go.”