BRITISH Touring Car Championship ace Rob Austin produced one of his drives of the season in the final race at Silverstone to only just miss out on a return to the podium.

The DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing driver from Evesham had to ultimately settle for fifth from ninth on the grid but got an Independents Trophy class top three ahead of the season finale at Brands Hatch in a fortnight.

“The car felt mega from the moment we hit the track,” said Austin.

“We started to pick up some understeer as the track rubbered up but where in the past we have tweaked the set-up too much, too little or gone the wrong way to compensate as we are still learning the car this time we hit the nail on the head and evolved the set-up just right for the circuit.

“Overall the team did a mega job all weekend and all the credit for our strong performances goes to them.

"My job is easy when the car is hooked up like that so this step forward is all down to them and now we hope to be just as competitive at Brands Hatch.”

Austin qualified 13th but contact in the first race hampered the Vale driver who eventually finished 26th.

From an improved 24th on the grid he shot up to ninth in the second contest in the Alfa Romeo.

Austin continued to gain in the third race with a fifth place and a best lap time of 59.151 seconds.

Senna Proctor was 10th for Bidford-on-Avon's Power Maxed TAG Racing in race two with Josh Cook in fourth ahead of Austin in the third.

Colin Turkington leads the drivers' standings with 300 points.

Sam Tordoff, Tom Ingram and Aiden Moffat shared the victory spoils at Silverstone.