Michael Bentwood put a season of frustrations behind him in the Green Flag British Touring Car Championship when he took a superb third place in the final race of the day at Brands Hatch, also winning the independents category.

The 26-year-old from Hale has demonstrated flashes of pace throughout the season, but reliability problems and racing incidents have meant that Bentwood has been unable to deliver on his promise since a podium result at Thruxton in the season opener.

Bentwood’s bad luck reared its ugly head in qualifying when the brand new engine blew on the VX Racing Junior Astra leaving him in 13th place, which the Hale based racer duly converted into a 10th place finish and what should have been pole position for the next race due to the reverse grid rule.

However, race officials saw things differently and penalised Bentwood for his aggressive last corner-overtaking move on Colin Turkington and dropped him to 11th place. “It was sharp,” commented Bentwood on the move, “but I only give what I receive.”

In the second race Bentwood finished seventh with a fantastic move on Muller putting him within striking distance of the serious points in the final race.

“What a first lap,” says Michael, “I went round the outside of Matt Neal at Surtees and crossed the line in fourth, Neal and Huff barged back through, but I held on until the safety car came out.”

“On the restart it was like pinball.  Total carnage, with cars going everywhere,” says Bentwood, “I got myself in the right place at the right time and seized my opportunity.”

Matt Neal took the first race of the day with championship leader Yvan Muller in second and James Thompson in third, But it was SEAT who dominated the podium for the rest of the day.

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