"I gave my best at Thruxton," says BMW driver Colin Turkington

The Northern Irishman completed the triple header at the Hampshire venue with back-to-back sixth place finishes in the first two sixteen lap races and ended the reversed-grid sprint in fourth position.

Turkington has won at Thruxton previously but repeating that on Sunday past always looked like a tall order as the conditions were well suited to front-wheel-drive machinery, as was reflected in the results.

Ash Sutton stormed to two perfect scores at the wheel of his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST while his team-mate made it a clean sweep of victories in race three, storming through from fifth to first place.

After Thruxton and going to Oulton Park next week before the traditional summer break, three-time BTCC title winner Sutton tops the drivers’ standings on 157 points from Tom Ingram – the reigning series champion – on 145 and then Turkington who has so far netted 119 points.

“It was a big push to keep the points coming but by the third race we had made a step forward with the balance,” said. “Thruxton does challenge us and the nature of it makes moving forward difficult.

“This becomes more and more difficult the further down the pack you are, so two sixths and a fourth is a decent trio of results.”

Turkington said setting the fifth quickest time during qualifying on Saturday was the foundation that he craved to move forward and secure solid results. “Producing a lap in qualifying was crucial because you could easily have found yourself stuck outside the points all day,” he continued.

“We weren’t pushing for wins but with what I had, I know I gave my best. Some days it is not about being extraordinary but just picking up points. And that is a result.

“We are not out of this fight, and it will be good to get back on the different compounds and tyre strategies, but we need to think about what we do now to find extra speed for Oulton and beyond.”