NORTH-East Touring Car driver Harry Vaulkhard had his best outing to date at the weekend, taking a well-earned fifth place finish after twice starting from the front row of the grid at Donington Park.

Tynesider Vaulkhard, 23, showed his mettle in qualifying for the third round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, held in dry conditions on Saturday, and put the Tempus Sport Chevrolet Lacetti on the front row by setting the second fastest time, just over a hundredth of a second off pole.

In Sunday's first race, held in treacherous wet conditions, Vaulkhard was able to take advantage of a strong wet set-up, however a less than perfect start and some inevitable panel rubbing meant he finished in fifth.

Race two saw Vaulkhard start from fifth, however he was forced to avoid an incident ahead of him which meant he dropped as low as 18th in the hotly-contested field, before fighting his way back to tenth come the chequered flag.

Vaulkhard started from pole position for race three, thanks to the random reverse grid rule.

He was unable to match the superior traction of the rear-wheel-drive BMW alongside, so lost one place at the start, but after that ran in second position for most of the early part of the race.

The track started wet, but as it dried Fabrizio Giovanardi caught Vaulkhard and made a very robust passing move which started on the grass, and ended with contact between the two cars.

Not to be outdone, Vaulkhard fought back and found his way back past Giovanardi, the reigning champion, with further contact taking place between the two cars.

The dicing duo had then been caught by the two other Chevrolets of Jason Plato and Mat Jackson and Colin Turkington's BMW.

After some epic racing, Harry found himself at the back of this pack and before he was able to work his way forwards again a backmarker attempted to get in the mix, pushing Vaulkhard off the track despite being a lap down.

Vaulkhard, who was on wet tyres, then finished in seventh after just being pipped on the finish line for position by two-time BTCC champion, James Thompson.

"I'm very happy about this weekend's performance," said Vaulkhard. "The team worked brilliantly and the car was fantastic. There was a lot of action on track, but I gave as good as I got, as you can't back down in these situations.

"It was great to be racing at the front and I think we showed we can mix it with the big boys. I am disappointed that we didn't get a podium, but if we can keep this pace I don't think we'll have to wait long before we get one."