Tyre-trouble denied Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher a possible victory at Brands Hatch in the British Touring Car Championship.

Butcher had started on pole for the Kent-based outfit and was leading race one when disaster struck late on, forcing him out on lap 15 of 18.

The Scottish driver had controlled much of the race but a safety car period bunched up the field and he suffered a puncture immediately after the restart. While it was heartbreak for Butcher there was at least a podium finish to console the team as Ollie Jackson took third.

Jackson said: “It’s a shame that it’s at Rory’s expense, and it’s overall for the team a bit of a kicker but my second podium, I’m so happy.”

Dan Cammish won the race and said: "I pushed Rory early on; I didn’t let him have it easy. I had to give him a bit of a break in the middle of the race.

"I knew if I kept pushing him, obviously with what happened in practice with his blown tyre, I just thought maybe the car couldn’t take it and lo and behold it just let go I think with a couple of laps to go.

"(I feel) very sorry for him, it’s a shame, but the pressure we’ve put on there made him drive the car beyond the limit."

A determined Butcher was the main man in race two, making up 21 places as he roared from 25th on the grid to finish fourth at the finish, eventually passing team-mate Jackson.

The final race led to more misfortune for the impressive Butcher, failing to finish again after picking up another puncture, this time from a comfortable third place. Jackson suffered with the same fate for a DNF.

Wins on the day went to three different drivers, Cammish, Colin Turkington - the championship leader - and Tom Oliphant.

Kent's Jake Hill, racing for Mark Blundell Motorsport, had shown great pre-race pace, finishing fourth in qualifying while topping the timings in free practice.

He looked set to put his first points on the board but finished 10th in the first race, round four of the championship, after struggling with the handling of the car in the closing stages.

The weekend was to finish in disappointment, with his engine letting go in race two while in sixth, having just made a fine move on Oliphant.

The MB Motorsport team worked hard to get Hill back out on the track for the final race and from 21st he climbed into the top ten, before contact from Matt Neal at Graham Hill Bent caused a puncture.

“A hugely frustrating end result from a race where his Honda had been one of the quickest cars on track,” said the team.

Hill said: “To have two retirements that were outside our control is massively frustrating and doesn't reward the team for the fantastic work they have done over two challenging weekends to start the year.

“We know the Honda is a quick car and we'll be ballast free at Oulton Park where hopefully my luck will change for the better."

In the Porsche Carrera Cup, MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square development driver Esmee Hawkey, from Chislehurst, maintained her strong start to the season with two further Pro Am class wins - giving her a 100 per cent win record from the opening two rounds.

Read more on sport in Kent