PERSHORE team Halfords Yuasa Racing secured a trio of podiums in the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.

Gordon Shedden reignited his bid with a nail-biting victory, while Matt Neal added another podium to close on the title lead.

Taking advantage of less success ballast aboard his Honda Civic Type R, defending champion Shedden got his first BTCC pole position in more than three years.

The Scot was runner-up in the opener after fending off Colin Turkington’s Subaru but was shuffled back to 10th at the chequered flag in race two.

Undeterred, Shedden bounced back in the finale to storm through the field and snatch the lead on the last lap following a robust scrap with Rob Collard.

With much more weight in his car, Neal qualified ninth and, after finishing eighth in race one, scythed through in the second outing to clinch third.

The three-time champion added 10th spot in race three to consolidate third in the drivers’ standings, inching to within just six points of the lead, with Shedden vaulting from ninth up to fourth.

Honda slashed their deficit to the top of the manufacturers’ table from 53 points to 34 with Halfords Yuasa Racing closing from 52 adrift of the summit in the teams’ classification to only 29.

Shedden said: “I couldn’t be happier. It has put me back in contention in fourth in the championship and I will be heading to my home event at Knockhill in two weeks on a real high.”

Neal said: “It was a pretty fraught weekend with everything going on around us on the track but I am pleased with the performance of the whole team.

“I had success ballast to contend with and struggled for straight-line speed but managed to pull out a podium and two top-10 finishes to score some really vital points.”

Evesham’s Rob Austin produced secured Handy Motorsport’s maiden podium finish and their first Independents Trophy class victory. After finishing 13th and ninth, Austin stormed from ninth to the top four in the third race.

Although edged back to fifth, he threaded his way into third a few corners later and defended stoutly to keep Jason Plato at bay.

Austin said: “I’m over the moon with this and need to thank Simon (Belcher, team principal) for keeping faith in me, the whole team did a fantastic job.”