GORDON Shedden and Pershore's Halfords Yuasa Racing wasted no time in stamping their authority on proceedings as the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship fired into life at Brands Hatch.

A victory and a second-place finish vaulted the Scot to the top of the points table.

Behind the wheel of the team’s brace of Honda Civic Type Rs the defending champion and team-mate Matt Neal mastered a tricky, rain-plagued and red flag-interrupted qualifying session to line up third and fourth among the 32 high-calibre contenders.

In the curtain-raiser Shedden sprinted to the runner-up laurels before going one better in race two as he produced a champion’s drive on significant success ballast to snatch the lead early on and preserve his advantage.

He mastered maximum weight and the less durable soft-compound tyres in race three to secure seventh from eighth on the grid and a six-point championship lead.

Neal endured a luckless start with a collision off the line in the opener, prompting a fightback in race two as he scythed his way through the field from 31st to 11th.

The three-time champion maintained the momentum in the finale to snatch a strong fourth place and ensure the team left Brands Hatch atop the teams’ standings.

Shedden said: “I’ll take those three results any weekend of the year — it’s been a brilliant start to the season.

"To win with 66kg in the car was really special. This must be my best ever start to a BTCC campaign so we’re clearly going in the right direction.”

Neal said: “It gradually got better for me. What happened at the beginning of race one was just one of those things, caused by the difference in starting speed between the front and rear wheel-drive cars.

"The final race was a strong way to finish the day. The fact Flash and the team in general had such a cracking weekend proves what we’re capable of.”

Outstanding pace and race craft from Evesham driver Rob Austin enabled Handy Motorsport to get the new season off to an extremely competitive start with a best result of fifth in round one.

He leapt from eighth on the grid in race one to finish inside the top five and went one better in round two with fourth after some tremendous battles but a penalty for a yellow flag infringement meant he was excluded from the results.

It also cost him the opportunity to challenge for the podium in round three at the wheel of the Toyota Avensis but he rose from 32nd to finish 18th.

Austin said: “I’m absolutely devastated. I really feel I’ve let everyone down through a silly mistake in race two.

“We had the potential for three top-five finishes and to be right up there in the championship going to Donington Park.

"Until I was told about the yellow flags in race two everything about Brands had exceeded our expectations as I didn’t think the track would suit us.”