Michael Crees netted a brace of top ten finishes in the latest round of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.

But for a last lap puncture in race three of the day on Sunday it would have been a trio of top ten finishes for the BTC Racing driver.

Crees who qualified in the top ten in ninth place for his best ever qualifying performance, brought it home in the top ten twice for his first ever BTCC top ten finishes.

Race one saw him come home in a very strong 10th place pushing teammate Josh Cook all the way, then in race two he finished one place better off with a ninth place finish in what was a train of BTC cars with Tom Chilton seventh and Cook eighth.

It was almost like dream world time for the Broadstairs based BTCC lifelong race fan, as he had Colin Turkington behind him as he chased down championship stalwart Matt Neal in the final race of the weekend. Unfortunately the puncture on the last lap meant he dropped down the field and couldn’t cap of a fantastic weekend with another top ten finish.

He has also extended his lead in the Jack Sears Trophy over Bobby Thompson to a healthy 44 points.

Speaking after a great weekend, Crees said: “When is it going to end? I’m getting better and better every time I’m in the car and it’s just amazing. I was sitting there behind Matt Neal in race 3 and I had the pace on him.

“I had Turkington on my back so I thought I’d have him going into turn two. I got a bit greedy on the last lap at the chicane and took a bit too much kerb and it punctured immediately. It could have easily been a real hero moment though. Hands-down it was the best race I’ve ever driven. 

“For some reason, I’ve stepped up this weekend and I feel that I deserve to be here on merit now. No ifs, no buts, no tyres choices. I carried 12kg there when I was battling with the works BMW and Honda and kept with them. I feel like this is the next step forward for me. 

“Everyone at BTC Racing has put their heart and soul into this. I’m so happy for Josh, and the team. They’ve thrown everything at it this weekend so to get the 1-2 is brilliant. If we’d have drawn number 9 out for the reversed grid draw, who knows, maybe it would have been a BTC Racing 1-2-3. We needed this. I’m really happy for everyone.”

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