Works Honda driver Tom Chilton scored his first British Touring Car Championship podium of the season after grabbing a stunning third place at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Tom drove a charging race after being squeezed back to 10th place on the opening lap, passing 2002 BTCC champion James Thompson at the final corner to snatch third. It was his third top three finish in the series, but probably his most convincing race performance.

"I was really fired up. No one was going to stop me," said Tom. "The team did a great job. The car was fantastic under braking."

The reverse grid format, which has been introduced this year, meant that Tom started the second of the three races from eighth and with 18 kilos of success ballast in his Honda Civic Type-R. Despite these drawbacks, he produced another solid drive, bring the car home in sixth place to end the race as the leading Honda driver.

Tom made his best start of the season to date in the third and final race, but was squeezed wide and lost places in the early stages. Once again he drove a mature race and despite losing brake performance, he fought back to claim another sixth place. The result was particularly satisfying as Tom held off Matt Neal's Civic in the closing stages despite his former team-mate carrying over 20kgs less ballast.

"I take a lot of pride from beating Matt," he said. "I really feel as if I'm learning a lot this season. I'm sure we're going to go even better next time out at Silverstone."

Arena Motorsport boss Mike Earle was pleased with Tom's haul of 20 points, which has moved him into 10th place in the championship.

"Our aim this weekend was to do better than Thruxton," he said. "Tom had a job to do and that was to bring the car home in all three races and that's what he did. He drove really well to take third in the first race."

The next round of the BTCC takes place at Silverstone on May 9.

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