SWINDON’S Handy Motorsport team celebrated its second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship podium of the 2016 season at Silverstone on Sunday.

Producing eye-catching pace throughout practice and qualifying, where he secured an excellent top six time just 0.277 seconds shy of pole position, driver Rob Austin went on to finish fifth in the opening contest but exclusions for the two ‘works’ MG cars elevated the Toyota Avensis into third.

Frustratingly, a bid for a second rostrum result in race two went awry as a result of a costly puncture meaning a back of the grid start for the final encounter.

Charging through with an electrifying drive, Austin gained no fewer than 18 positions inside 15 laps but as he ran door handle-to-door handle with Ashley Sutton dicing over 12th position, another puncture ruled Austin out of the race.

“We’re obviously all elated with another podium finish, fifth was a great result in the first race as it was but we’ll happily take P3,’’ said Handy team principal Simon Belcher.

“All weekend the car was quick, Rob did a fantastic job and sixth in qualifying was a strong performance.

“Race one was great and there was a chance of a podium in race two as well. It’s unfortunate races two and three were affected by punctures but it doesn’t take away how competitive our package has been this weekend, or how well Rob performed.”

“We were happy enough with fifth to be honest – it showed the car’s strong and the whole package is strong”, said Austin of race one.

“It was a good race, a little bit frustrating as I think we had the pace to be further up the order and to challenge for a bigger result.’’

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, the traditional venue for the season finale of the championship, will host the last three races of the campaign over the weekend October 1-2.