Tordoff celebrates victory at Donington

The MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save driver had already claimed a superb second place behind team-mate Jason Plato in the opening race at the East Midlands circuit before going one better in the second race. Tordoff made an excellent start and passed Plato on the outside of turn one off the line.

And whilst Plato stayed in touch with the sister MG, Tordoff – who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday – had the pace and kept his cool throughout the 19-lap race, which was punctuated by several incidents that needed the safety-car.

“That was fantastic”, said Tordoff. “It was really difficult to be honest, and probably one of the hardest races I’ve ever driven. But I’ll take that result any day of the week! I aspire to be one of these top guys and that means beating JP (Plato) too, so I’m delighted. I just want to thank Triple Eight for providing me with such a fantastic car and I hope we can be on the top step of the podium regularly.”

There was at least one heart-in-mouth moment for double BTCC champion Alain Menu.

The Swiss driver spun across the track on the exit of Old Hairpin and was narrowly missed by a number of cars.

Tordoff found the final race of the day more tricky, running with full ballast, and could manage only 16th place.

But his overall efforts moved him up to sixth place in the drivers’ championship on 57 points – just 30 points behind joint championship leaders Plato and Honda Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Gordon Shedden claimed victory in the last race, dramatically passing Colin Turkington on the final corner.