Mark Proctor launched a scathing attack on rivals James Kaye and Gavin Smith after damage to the Fast-tec Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R prevented Proctor from taking his place on pole position for the final race of the weekend at Mondello Park.

Proctor, who switched to the ex-Tom Chilton car for the new season after a trying debut with an Astra Coupe, endured a tough start to the year at Brands Hatch where he failed to score and arrived in Ireland looking to kickstart his championship season.

The blue Civic came home twelfth in the opening race of the day, and Proctor then found himself dicing for position with the similar car of Kaye and the Astra Sport Hatch of Smith. Contact saw Proctor lose out in the battle between the three, and although he crossed the line to take eighth place – and with it race three pole once the draw was made by race winner Matt Neal – the Honda had suffered a blown engine which Proctor blamed on his rivals.

“Kaye and Smith used me like a bumper car,” he said. “I was in seventh or eighth, but they just kept hitting the rear of my car and that crumpled the exhaust and the engine blew. We only got our hands on the Civic at the start of the season, but I was flying in that race. We've arrived – maybe they can't handle it.”

Unable to take his place at the head of the field for race three, Proctor would retire having started a lap down from the pitlane. However Kaye, who incidentally failed to start the final race, insisted he hadn't been at fault in race two.

“I think Mark's got that wrong or got me mixed up with someone else,” he said. “I saw Smith go into Mark and I got past the pair of them. There was never any contact.”