Team Halfords enjoyed a promising start to the new HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season, with Gordon 'Flash' Shedden securing a podium finish from the opening rounds of the year at Brands Hatch (30 March).

The Scottish driver picked up a fine second place finish in race two at the wheel of his Honda Civic while new team-mate Tom 'Sonic' Chilton battled back well from an unfortunate retirement in race two to storm through the pack in the final race of the weekend.

Both drivers lie inside the top ten in the championship standings after the first race weekend of the season, while Team Halfords is a solid fourth in the teams standings.

Race One:

From seventh on the grid, Flash was immediately on the move, getting up to sixth by the end of lap one. However a big slide on lap six saw him run wide and allowed team-mate Tom through into the position. Stuck in the middle of a titanic battle between as many as six cars, Flash eventually took the flag back in sixth place while Tom was involved in further wheel-to-wheel action and dropped back to ninth.

Race Two:

A stunning start to race two from sixth on the grid saw Flash quickly up into third place before a Safety Car period when the BMW of Rob Collard went off at Paddock Hill Bend. On the restart, Flash lined up the second placed car of Mat Jackson and dived down the inside in a brave move at the first corner to secure a superb runner-up slot behind defending champion Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Unfortunately for Sonic, race two ended in disappointment when he was forced to retire from the race after contact with the BMW of Colin Turkington late on. The Northern Irishman got out of shape at Surtees and ended up sweeping Tom's Honda when he tried to make a move up the inside.

Race Three:

The final race proved to be a difficult one for Gordon, who found himself amongst much of the on-track mayhem. First of all, contact from Jason Plato's SEAT pushed him into the Vauxhall of Tom Onslow-Cole on lap one, with Onslow-Cole fired off into the barriers and Flash lucky to escape the same fate. After a Safety Car period to remove the damaged Vectra, Flash pressed on, but unfortunately saw his challenge come to an end when an overambitious move from Adam Jones' SEAT saw him pushed off into the barriers at Druids.

It was third time lucky for Tom however, as he made the most of the lightning speed of the Honda Civic to forge his way through from the back of the field and finish in the points. After long battles with both Matt Allison and former team-mate - and reigning champion - Giovanardi, he took the flag in seventh place.

Driver comments:

Gordon Shedden:

"We worked hard on the set-up for the car for this weekend and it was okay in race one, but we made some changes for race two and it was a lot better. Getting through onto the podium was a good result.

"I think we would have made more progress in race three without the incidents that happened. On lap one, I was alongside Onslow-Cole maybe 100 metres out of Graham Hill Bend and I got a whack up the back from Plato which pitched the back of my car up and turned me into Tom - which caused massive damage to his car and a lot to mine as well. It was all a bit unnecessary really as you can't drive through someone. Then Adam Jones arrived at Druids faster than he should have done and that was it.

"There is great promise in this package and it's just a case of staying out of trouble as it can be like pinball wizard in the pack sometimes. My problems this weekend have arisen from contact with people who should have known better."

Tom Chilton:

"I didn't get as many points as I'd hoped for this weekend, but I'm still on a high from the last race! Having a DNF is never good but this car is so strong and we ran well throughout the weekend, but lost out in qualifying because of a red flag.

"I got a little tag from Matt in race one which cost me time and then in race two, Colin whacked the front left as he came back across me which punctured my front left. But the last race was brilliant. I was so far back on the grid I couldn't see the lights but at the start I was passing people all over the place! I managed to finish seventh, the car was really quick and it was good to get some points."