Vauxhall Racing continued to challenge for British Touring Car Championship honours with a dominant display at Brands Hatch this bank holiday weekend.

The entire VX Racing team were on the podium in race two, with Yvan Muller taking the chequered flag in first place, closely followed by James Thompson and Paul O'Neill. O'Neill narrowly missed out on victory in race one, ultimately finishing third. Muller crossed the line in second place and Thompson in fifth.

Race 1

Vauxhall Racing's Paul O'Neill endured an exciting race, leading the field for 15 laps only to lose his lead to Matt Neal's Honda in a gripping last lap, which saw him drop to third place. Yvan Muller finished in second place, with pole sitter James Thompson in fifth.

It was dry throughout the 35 lap race. The grid lined up with Thompson in pole for his 200th touring car race, Muller in third place and O'Neill in fourth. Thompson was carrying maximum ballast and lost his lead at the start, moving to fourth place. Muller moved into second place, sandwiched between Matt Neal's Honda and Warren Hughes' MG. At the end of lap one O'Neill was fifth, just behind team-mate Thompson.

Positions remained the same until lap 9, when O'Neill passed Thompson for fourth place. Thompson was the first driver to stop for his mandatory pit stop, coming in on lap 15, followed by O'Neill on lap 16 and Muller on lap 20. When Muller rejoined the track after his pit stop, he was in second place behind O'Neill, who led the race for the next 15 laps.

Hughes challenged Muller on lap 26 and the two cars made contact, resulting in damage to the Vauxhall Astra Coupé's rear bumper. Muller continued to hold off Hughes until lap 29 when they again made contact at Paddock Hill Bend, this time resulting in Muller going into the gravel and rejoining the track in fourth place. O'Neill led the chasing pack until the final lap, when a controversial manoeuvre by Matt Neal at Clearways saw Neal take the lead. Muller passed O'Neill for second place, pushing the race leader into third position. Thompson brought his Vauxhall Astra Coupé home in fifth place.

Yvan Muller:

"I didn't make a fantastic start, but neither did anyone else, so I was in second place. It was close racing between Hughes and I, and I have no complaints about us touching. I closed the door on him for 20 laps and it was a good fight between us. It's a good result today, especially as I was running with ballast."

Paul O'Neill:

"What a great race! My pit stop was amazing, I just couldn't believe the pace of it - it must be one of the quickest stops the team have done. After that I found myself in the lead and all I had to do was defend and I was home and dry, but Neal was right behind me and we made contact coming into Clearways. I'm disappointed not to get the victory having led for the best part of the race, but a podium finish is good."

James Thompson:

"There's not a lot to say really. It was a frustrating race as we struggled for pace and just weren't quick enough, so I just concentrated on just getting it round to the finish and picking up some points. We'll make changes to the car before this afternoon's race, and hope to get some speed."

Mike Nicholson:

"Although two guys on the podium is a good result, it's a real disappointment for O'Neill, who drove superbly. There was some good, clean racing, but it's not a place to overtake [Clearways] and the accident shouldn't have happened."

Race 2

After 35 laps of close racing, Yvan Muller, James Thompson and Paul O'Neill finished in first, second and third places respectively in round four of the British Touring Car Championship, infront of 40,000 fans at the Brands Hatch circuit.

Muller started race two from the front row of the grid, with O'Neill on row two and Thompson on row three. Muller and O'Neill both made good starts to take first and second place, with Thompson dropping to seventh. Thompson began to challenge the cars ahead of him and moved into fifth place on lap 13. The safety car was called out on this lap while Chris Ryan's Alfa Romeo was removed from the start/finish straight following a spin.

The safety car was still out on lap 15 when the pit stop window opened, and the majority of drivers, including all three VX Racing drivers, went straight into the pits for their mandatory stops.

When the safety car pulled off the track on lap 20 Muller was in the lead, followed by Colin Turkington's MG, O'Neill, Anthony Reid's MG and Thompson. On lap 22, Thompson passed Reid and a close battle for second place ensued with Turkington, O'Neill and Thompson split by a couple of tenths of a second. This allowed Muller to extend his lead to over four seconds.

With only a few laps remaining, Thompson passed O'Neill and began challenging Turkington for second place. He made a daring overtaking manoeuvre on the penultimate lap and the two cars touched, sending Turkington into the gravel. Thompson moved up into second place, O'Neill third and Muller claimed his first victory of the season.

Yvan Muller:

"This is great! I was running with ballast so I'm especially delighted to have won my first race of the year. The balance of the car was perfect, and towards the end of the race I was just waiting for my luck to run out and bad things to happen, like at Mondello Park, but it didn't happen. It's a superb result for the team."

James Thompson:

"We made some adjustments to the car and it was a little bit better than in the first race. There was some good, close racing. When I overtook Turkington we were dicing and there was contact, but it was a racing incident, one of those things. To win would have been better, but I won't complain with second place!"

Paul O'Neill:

"I've never had two podiums in a race weekend before - this is a fantastic result! Towards the end of the race I couldn't get past Turkington so I let James through as he was lighter than me and I thought he could try and get past. This is mega, to be on the podium twice in one day infront of 40,000 people."