RORY BUTCHER secured his first podium of the season after a "rollercoaster ride" of a second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship weekend.

The 35-year-old, as well as brother-in-law, Gordon Shedden, was in the points at Brands Hatch last Sunday as he bounced back from a tough first three rounds of the 2022 series at Donnington Park last month.

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver Butcher, whose father, Derek, is the owner and CEO of Knockhill Racing Circuit, was ninth on the grid for race one after qualifying, finishing barely a quarter-of-a-second away from pole position.

Despite finding himself more than 25 seconds adrift of the lead at one stage, the Kirkcaldy-born star posted fastest lap after fastest lap to snatch fifth place from pole-sitter, Colin Turkington, on the final tour, only to run wide a handful of corners later and slip to seventh at the chequered flag.

In the second contest, Butcher scored his first place on the podium this season, having risen to fourth before displacing championship leader Tom Ingram, to finish behind Jake Hill and Dam Cammish,

From 10th on a partially-reversed grid for the finale, Butcher excelled again in tricky conditions, pushing past Dan Lloyd, defending champion Ash Sutton, Tom Chilton and George Gamble, to finish finish and move him up to seventh in the drivers' standings.

"Like at Donington, we ran into some technical dramas on Saturday, but we pieced together the three races on Sunday this time and I was so pleased to score some big points and bag our first podium of the season," he said.

"I was really pleased with race two – it was fantastic for the whole team to take our first podium of the year. I got myself into the top five early on and had some good battles with the guys up at the front, especially Dan [Cammish] and Jake [Hill]. Considering we were practically last after the opening couple of laps in race one, it was great to come through to finish third in that one.

"We were super strong again in race three, and to top the weekend off with fifth place meant we all went home happy. Most encouragingly of all, the Corolla is feeling properly on-point and was quick in all conditions.

"We had no technical issues on race day, which meant we could think more about detail and strategy and take a few risks, and that clearly paid off.

"Ultimately, we’re here to fight for the championship, so our season starts now!"

Sitting one place, and 16 points, head of Butcher in the standards is three-time champion Shedden, who couldn't emulate the race win and third place he secured on the opening race weekend.

The Halfords Racing with Cataclean driver, 43, finished 11th in qualifying and moved up three places to eighth in race one, which was then followed by a sixth in race two, and an 11th place in the final race.

'Flash', whose wife, Jillian, is Knockhill's managing director, moves on to 67 points in the championship, 25 behind Ingram.

The series returns next weekend (May 28-29) at Thruxton.