Colin out in front in race for title.

COLIN Turkington surged to the summit of the British Touring Car Championship standings yesterday after claiming two wins from three at Croft.

The Team RAC BMW driver won the first two races of the day in fine conditions at the North Yorkshire circuit, but the heavens opened in spectacular fashion ahead of race three, won by reigning two-time champion Fabrizio Giovanardi (VX Racing).

Turkington took the honours in race one with a perfect pole-to-flag win during which he also set the race's fastest lap. The Northern Irishman's team-mate Stephen Jelley took second to register his first BTCC podium.

Newcastle-educated Jason Plato was third in the Racing Silverline Chevrolet Lacetti, while Airwaves BMW's Rob Collard drove a sterling race from 10th on the grid to finish fourth.

Giovanardi, from 13th on the grid, came home fifth ahead of team-mate and erstwhile championship leader Matt Neal.

Race two was a carbon copy of the opener, with the top six finishers coming home in the same order.

Not great entertainment for the fans, perhaps, but that will have been of little concern to Turkington, who again set the fastest lap - and took another bonus point - on his way to victory by less than half a second from Jelley.

Race three was much harder to call but it was Giovanardi who eventually prevailed after a sublime drive, the Italian passing James Thompson (Team Dynamics Honda) in a superb three-corner move before easing away to the chequered flag.

Thompson had to settle for second place while Jelley completed a hat-trick of podiums with third.

Turkington could only manage sixth in the final race, which was punctuated by three safety car periods as drivers struggled to stay on the track in the treacherous conditions.

Neal fared somewhat worse than his title rival, the Vauxhall Vectra driver punted out of a battle for fifth place with bitter rival Plato on his way to eighth place.

The two-time champion now lies 25 points behind Turkington in the drivers' standings heading into the six-week summer break.

"I guess you have to have bad ones to appreciate the good ones," said a disappointed Neal.

"My car felt better and better as the weekend went on but it wasn't the track for us.

"I don't think losing the championship lead is a concern as we still have plenty of races to come and circuits which are more suited to our car.

"I wasn't happy to be punted off by Jason (Plato) and it's not the first time it's happened.

"It's just disappointing for the boys who work so hard when we don't get the results we deserve."