SAM Tordoff is hoping that victory at Oulton Park will be the step change that he needs in this year's Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Former team-mate Jason Plato (Team BMR) won the opening two races on the Cheshire circuit before the Rawdon man triumphed in the third and final race.

Team JCT600 with GardX driver Tordoff, who battled to fifth place in the second race in front of a huge crowd, led early in race three, only to be passed by Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) on the exit of turn one.

However, the Yorkshireman then reeled Neal in and tucked his car down the inside of the Honda at Lodge before making the move stick at Old Hall on lap nine.

Tordoff, celebrating his first victory of the campaign, said: "That means a lot – it's been a difficult year for me up to now.

"I expected to be up at the front and challenging sooner than this. I set myself high standards and I want to be challenging to win this championship.

"This weekend has been a real step change though, and the results really reflect that. We needed an uplift in the team and that one is for them. "Matt made a slight mistake – I think there was some oil down – and it was the only chance I needed.

"I ran my own race and was a little concerned about (Andrew) Jordan's pace towards the end but we had just enough."

Tordoff, who qualified 11th in 1min 26.134sec and was ninth in race one, defeated Jordan (MG Triple Eight Racing) by 0.264sec in race three, while Neal was third at 0.766sec.

Jordan said: "I gave it everything in the last race, but Sam was strong in the key areas and I just couldn't get enough of a run at him."

In race two, Tordoff, who made some impressive moves, got the better of Adam Morgan (W1X Racing) and Aron Smith (Team BMR) to climb to fifth.

With little room to manoeuvre, the Team JCT600 with Gard X driver Tordoff first slipped by Morgan's Mercedes on the run down to Cascades on lap eight, but the best was to come three tours later when he out-braked the VW CC of Smith at Lodge.

Tordoff has climbed to eighth in the overall standings with 111 points, just three points behind Morgan, but the next three races are at Tordoff's home circuit of Croft on the weekend of June 27-28.