ROB Austin chalked-up three consistently strong British Touring Car Championship points finishes for Handy Motorsport at Croft Circuit at the weekend.

The 34-year-old, who was competing in his 150th BTCC race, just missed out on the coveted top 10 in round 13 with 11th place and then finished 12th in each of the subsequent contests.

Moving back into the outright championship top 15, Austin also retained sixth in the Independents Trophy, and Swindon-based Handy Motorsport has moved back into the top six of the Independents Team Trophy standings.

“We are pleased with three strong points finishes but left Croft feeling we could have picked up more”, said team principal Simon Belcher.

“Unfortunately, we got stuck behind Aron Smith in a couple of races and the VW has so much straight-line speed it is very hard to pass.

“We really have the car in the window now and Rob is becoming more and more comfortable with it, and the team too, so it’s just a matter of time before we start getting rewarded at the sharp end for all the hard work the team and Rob are putting in.

“Next week we have a two-day tyre test at Snetterton and have a raft of developments to test, which we hope will keep us moving forward.”

Beginning round 13 on Sunday from the eighth row of the grid, Austin took the chequered flag in 11th place, just 0.1 seconds shy of the top 10.

Taking the ‘Hard’ compound tyre for round 14, Austin made a quick getaway from 11th but had to settle for 12th place.

Rain ahead of round 15, and during the preceding support race, resulted in the majority of the BTCC grid choosing treaded Dunlops for the final race where Austin again finished in 12th.

The BTCC now heads into a lengthy six week summer break with the second half of the campaign set to get underway at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk over the weekend of July 30-31.