IN his first year of racing in the Renault UK Clio Cup, Max Coates claimed his maiden win – just a few miles from the North Yorkshire village where he was brought up.

While the majority of the Croft Circuit crowd may have turned up for a glimpse of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s latest three rounds, locally it was the young man from Scorton who stole the show.

The Northern Echo: Winner: Scorton's Max Coates is interviewed after the race with his fans behind him

Winner: Scorton's Max Coates is interviewed after the race with his fans behind him

In the Ciceley Motorsport Clio, the 22-year-old followed up a second place on Saturday by going one better by staying strong in the closing stages to stay ahead of Team Pyro duo Mike Bushell and Josh Price.

As Coates emerged from his car seat there were hundreds to cheer and he was a little overwhelmed after climbing down from the podium, soaked in champagne to mingle with his fans.

“There were a few Max Coates shirts around and the whole support I had was amazing,” said Coates. “I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this … it would have been just about how I’d have scripted my first win if I had a choice.

“I would have loved to win every race, of course I would, but that would have been boring. The fact is that I am from five miles down the road and the local lad has got the chance he has waited five years for. The Ciceley Motorsport team have put their faith in me and I am glad I have started to repay them.”

Coates, a former student at Richmond Sixth Form College and a sport marketing student, started fourth but he was able to move up through the order, helped by Paul Rivett’s problem in the WDE Motorsport which saw him fall away having beaten Coates in the previous round.

“I got a decent start, passed one car into turn one,” he said. “When Mark went wide, I pulled away from him after Sunny. At that point I thought it would be hard to catch Paul but he went off and don’t know what his issue was. Then I had my sights on Josh, chased him down, he left the door open at the Hairpin and I didn’t need a second chance.”

Coates’ victory arrived after two of the three BTCC races of the day saw standings leader Sam Tordoff fail to trouble the leaders for Team JCT600 with GardX, while the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing duo of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato grabbed the headlines.

After a frustrating start to the season, the Subaru Levorg has benefited from a change of gear box and a different engine, and the Turkington-Plato combo looked to be in dominant mood.

The Northern Echo: Final winner: The Dunlop MSA British Touring Cars Championship takes place at Croft Circuit near Darlington. Ashley Sutton, in action from the first race of the day, went on to win the last race in the rain. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Final winner: The Dunlop MSA British Touring Cars Championship takes place at Croft Circuit near Darlington. Ashley Sutton, in action from the first race of the day, went on to win the last race in the rain. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Turkington followed up his impressive qualifying by leading from start to finish to win the BTCC opener. Turkington claimed his 11th victory on the North Yorkshire circuit by helping to secure a first ever one-two finish for Subaru. MG Racing RCIB Insurance’s Ash Sutton claimed his first podium – before winning the third race - just behind them.

“They certainly didn’t make that one easy for me,” said Turkington, whose time of 29:56.374 was 1.35sec quicker than his nearest rival. “It was the kind of race where you need to remain 100 per cent focused right to the end.

“To have three safety car periods is quite unusual, and with the tyre pressures dropping at the lower speeds, I had to carefully manage all the re-starts which was tricky. With Jason not far behind either, there was absolutely no margin for error, but the team gave us both a fantastic car so massive credit to them all.”

Tordoff hit the gravel on the first turn and eventually dropped out of contention to finish more than 12 seconds behind the winner because of the oil leak picked up during that early incident.

There looked like being a repeat of the Turkington-Plato one-two in the second BTCC race, before their own battle for the lead ended up paving the way for Rob Collard’s BMW 125i M-Sport to claim first.

Collard, 47, took advantage at the half-way stage in front of the Tower – when the two Subarus ended up sliding after touching paint - and never looked back to seal the win for JCT600 with GardyX. Plato successfully claimed second in consecutive races, with Turkington third.

“If in doubt, flat out!” said Collard. “I was boxed in behind Jack Goff but then the two Subarus touched and a gap appeared. It was an extremely small gap but it was just big enough to get into, and thankfully Jason gave me room. It’s a great result for the whole team and really good for our championship.”

It was Collard’s 50th podium finish – his first was at Donington Park in 2005 - and his second win of the year, while his JCT600 with GardyX’s stablemates also impressed. Goff was fourth and Tordoff managed eighth despite needing an engine change.

Tordoff, looking for a lift after missing out in the first two races, started the final race in pole position after being drawn out and he stayed there for the majority of the 18 laps only to be overtaken brilliantly with one and half laps to go.

In the first wet race since Brands Hatch in 2014, making for even more excitement and more dangerous conditions on the wet tyres, Sutton’s fine weekend continued when he claimed his maiden BTCC victory in the MG6 GT.

He charged his way through the field and saw a chance to sneak through on Tordoff’s inside at Sunny and it was too late for the BMW to do anything about it.

Tordoff stayed second before the end with Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram claiming a podium finish in the Toyota Avensis to bring another weekend of racing to an end at Croft.