Neal, Thompson & Chilton win at Silverstone.

Matt Neal, James Thompson and Tom Chilton were the winners of Sunday's action-packed and sometimes controversial three Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at Silverstone.

Leaving the Northamptonshire circuit, Vauxhall driver Thompson leads the championship while 19-year-old Chilton celebrates becoming the BTCC's youngest ever race winner.

The day's first race fell the way of Neal's Computeach Racing with Halfords Honda Civic. It was Neal's second win of the season and came after he had forced his way past SEAT Sport UK driver Jason Plato, who started from pole position, to take the lead. His win also guaranteed him victory in the HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy for privateer competitors.

Second was Vauxhall's reigning champion Yvan Muller who also fought past Plato and set the race's fastest lap. Thompson finished fourth after losing places when he was delayed trying to pass Plato for the lead in the early stages. Neal's team-mate Dan Eaves and Anthony Reid, in the WSR team's MG ZS, completed the top six.

Arguably the most entertaining battle on track was for tenth position. WSR's Colin Turkington held the place for much of the race with Synchro Motorsport's James Kaye - in his 200th BTCC race - desperately trying to get past, knowing the position would guarantee him pole position for the day's second race, thanks to the top ten reversed grid rule.

Turkington and Kaye tangled, however, promoting Kelvin Burt - making his return to the BTCC in Team Sureterm's Vauxhall Astra - into the much sought after position. Until, that is, SEAT's Robert Huff, driving tactically, slowed and allowed Burt past just before the line.

Huff, therefore, started the second race from the front of the grid with Burt alongside him in second, but it was Thompson and Muller who produced the star drives, moving through from seventh and ninth on the grid to lead Vauxhall to a 1-2 result. This was despite the fact that their Astras were each weighed down with substantial ballast following their second and fourth place finishes in the opening race.

Reid, who ran half a lap rubbing doors with Muller during the race, was forced to settle for third and Independents Trophy honours, ahead of Burt who not only led the opening laps but also gave Sureterm its best BTCC result to date in fourth. Huff had also been in the thick of the action, the exciting BTCC rookie daring to re-pass Muller earlier in the race for second until running off the track and tumbling to seventh. Ahead of him, in fifth and sixth respectively, were Turkington, who set the race's fastest lap, and Eaves.

Unfortunate not to be in this group was Carl Breeze, in Sureterm's Alfa Romeo. He had finished a fine seventh in the opening race so lined up fourth on the starting grid, but his hopes were dashed when he spun off the track on the opening lap in a clash with Vauxhall's Luke Hines. Breeze would bounce back magnificently in the day's third race to finish fifth after starting a lowly 16th.

The celebrations in the third race, though, belonged to one driver: Chilton. The teenager started tenth on the grid but with five laps to go he had risen to third and was hunting down squabbling leaders Reid and Neal. When they dramatically collided and slid off the track together, Chilton was perfectly placed to drive past and take the lead. Despite pressure from the recovering Reid over the last two laps, Chilton kept his cool to record his first BTCC race victory and be hailed as the championship's youngest ever winner. Chilton also becomes the BTCC's sixth different winner from this season's opening nine rounds.

Reid crossed the line second but was later handed a ten-seconds penalty by officials for his part in an incident with Thompson that put the Vauxhall driver into a lurid half spin and caused him to lose an early race lead. Thompson finished seventh, while Reid's penalty meant he fell to fourth in the provisional results. Officials have also to look into the incident between Reid and Neal when their cars ran off the road together as they disputed the race lead.

Neal's car suffered front-end damage in the incident. He rejoined the track in third but fell to eighth. This meant SEAT team-mates Plato and Huff crossed the line in third and fourth positions ahead of the recovering Breeze, who nicked fifth from Eaves through the final few bends of the race. Plato and Huff were later promoted to second and third due to Reid's time penalty.

Muller, meanwhile, didn't even start the race. He went into it leading Thompson by one point in the title race, but as the Frenchman drove to his starting position of second his Astra suffered engine problems and had to be pushed off the grid. Thompson's seventh position means he now holds a four-point lead over Muller as the championship heads to Oulton Park, Cheshire, for rounds ten, 11 and 12 on 22/23 May.

Reid leads the HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy ahead of Eaves, Neal, Turkington and Kaye. Vauxhall and its competition brand VX Racing head the BTCC's Manufacturers and Teams championships respectively.