Hampshire's Rob Collard was the pick of the privateers in the first round of the Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship at Mondello Park near Dublin.

The man from Cove, pictured above, has taken possession of an ex-works 2001 Vauxhall Astra Coupe for the new campaign and drove superbly in constantly changing weather conditions.

While the factory Vauxhalls of James Thompson and Yvan Muller continued their domination of the touring car class, with first and second places in both rounds, Collard opened his points account in the Independents Cup with eye-catching sixth and seventh places.

Collard races on a shoestring yet he still managed to outqualify works drivers Antony Reid (MG), Matt Neal (Honda) and Tom Chilton (Honda).

And he was at it again during official testing for Thruxton later this month when he was two seconds quicker than the MGs and three seconds better than the Vauxhalls!

Gavin Pyper, who drives one of last year's works Vauxhalls for the Thruxton-based Gary Ayles Racing team, had a mixed time in Ireland.

He tangled with Honda's Matt Neal in race one but took a solid sixth place in race two, finishing just ahead of Collard, who races at Brands this weekend.

Salisbury's Alan Blencowe (Honda Civic Type R) was eighth in race one and set the fastest lap for a production car. But Alton's James Kaye retired his Honda Civic in both races.