Team Halfords' Matt Neal maintained his lead at the top of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after another dramatic weekend of racing at Silverstone, but it was Gareth Howell - in only his second meeting of the season - who stole the headlines, following his maiden pole position on Saturday with a first BTCC race victory on Sunday.

Having made his comeback in the last round of the series at Knockhill, Howell repaid the faith shown in him by team boss Steve Neal to produce a storming drive in the third race of the day, coming through the field from twelfth on the grid to take a comfortable victory.

"This is for the team," a delighted Gareth said at the end of the day. "I'm not a driver that comes with a budget and a big sponsor but Steve has had faith in me, he always said 'You can do' and promised to get me out and he gave me the chance. It's all forward from here."

With the BTCC returning to the short and simple National circuit at Silverstone for the first time in a decade, weight was expected to be an issue in qualifying and so it proved, with Neal having to settle for sixth on the grid with the heaviest car on the track and Dan Eaves slotting into third. However Howell didn't have any success ballast to worry about in his Castrol-sponsored Integra Type-R and promptly stormed to pole position with a lap over a quarter of a second clear of anybody else.

Race one proved to be a dramatic one for all three of the Halfords' drivers, as a damp - but drying - track greeted the cars on Sunday morning. Gareth lost out to Tom Chilton at the start but maintained second place until he ran wide at Becketts on lap two and fell to fourth. With cars running as three and four abreast down the National straight, Howell dropped as low as seventh during the race as the pack shuffled itself throughout but worked his way back up to fifth by the time the chequered flag dropped.

The ballast on his car continued to hamper Neal and a slide at Brooklands saw him drop to eleventh - a fantastic piece of driving stopping the Integra sliding off the track - before he battled his way past Gavin Smith and Rob Collard to finish inside the top ten although Dan wasn't as lucky when he lost his car at the same corner and ended his race in the gravel.

Race two saw Gareth repeating his qualifying performance as he moved up from fifth on the grid to second in the opening laps. Breaking away from the pack with SEAT driver Jason Plato, Howell looked a good bet for a maiden victory as he swarmed all over the rear of the 2001 champion until his car suddenly slowed with engine problems just four laps from the end and he was forced to retire.

For Matt, who had seen title rival Yvan Muller take points off him in race one, the second race proved to be even more dramatic when he was spun off by Collard while dicing for fifth place. Launching a fine recovery drive, Neal made his way back through the field to cross the line fifth, and when Plato was excluded from the results for careless driving, he inherited fourth. That was one place behind Eaves who had recovered from his race one misfortune to secure a podium finish, despite starting from the back of the grid.

The reverse top ten grid which greets the BTCC drivers for the final race of the day meant that all three Team Halfords' drivers had work to do in race three, but Howell made it look easy as he had picked up seven places on the opening lap alone to move into the top five. When James Pickford ran wide at Copse on lap two, Gareth moved onto fourth and took third a lap later when Neal did the same thing. A safety car period to recover the Lexus of Richard Williams from the gravel trap allowed Gareth to close in on Collard and Chilton at the front and when the safety car pulled in, he wasted no time in passing Chilton for second. A fine overtaking manoeuvre on lap eleven allowed Howell to squeeze past the MG into the race lead and from there he simply drove away from the chasing pack to secure victory.

"I didn't think a race win would happen today after the first race, and definitely not after the second!" he said. "It's been an up and down day but the third race - I can't really tell you what happened. I got a good start, avoided the melee and it fell into my lap. I'm over the moon at the moment, I'm on cloud nine!"

After running wide at Copse and dropping to tenth, Matt recovered to finish seventh, the results from the weekend ensuring that he maintains his 30 point title over Muller going into the season finale at Brands Hatch.

"I came here wanting to keep the buffer and not set the world on fire and that is what we have done, so in that respect it is mission accomplished. I'm over the moon for Gareth and the team following his win, it's great for him. I'm a bit disappointed personally with my results, but I'm not going away from the weekend upset."

Eaves again finished inside the top four after another strong drive to wrap up third place in the championship standings.

"Decent points from the weekend wraps up third place in the standings for me after Jason was excluded from race two and that's what I am here for," he said. "Second place isn't out of reach at Brands Hatch if I have a good weekend and Muller struggles but the aim is to make sure that Matt wins the title."

With all three of his drivers having now taken a race victory, and Matt now the undoubted favourite to take the title in the last round of the season, the final word fell to team boss Steve Neal on another good weekend.

"Gareth didn't put a foot wrong in that third race, he was brilliant. Back of the grid to win - it's fantastic and he has big future ahead of him. The cars have been superb all season, the preparation the boys have done and the reliability has been fabulous and the drivers have been brilliant - what more can I say? I've got the best team in the pit-lane, I've got the best car in the pit-lane and I reckon I've got the best drivers in the pit-lane."