WORCESTERSHIRE'S Matt Neal maintained his British Touring Car Championship lead after a thriller at Snetterton.

MG KX Momentum Racing driver Sam Tordoff secured the first victory of his BTCC career in the opener before the Hondas of Andrew Jordan and Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden claimed a win apiece in races two and three respectively.

Pershore-based Honda Yuasa Racing’s Neal kept the championship lead after a second place and two more top-10 finishes.

He is nine points ahead of Jordan with Shedden a further 13 behind.

Tordoff stormed to his maiden pole position and then backed up his pace with a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the first contest.

Jason Plato followed Tordoff home to secure MG’s second one-two finish of the season and Shedden fended off late challenges from Colin Turkington and Jordan to secure third.

Jordan won an action-packed second after he passed Turkington when the two made contact late on.

Neal blasted from ninth on the grid to finish second and Aron Smith took the first podium of the season for the Motorbase-run squad.

Plato fought his way through the order on the opening lap of race three, his MG6 spun wildly before making heavy contact with the barrier which tipped his car.

The drama continued when Shedden honed in on early leader Turkington and the pair touched while racing for position.

Turkington spun down the order as Shedden nipped through to win.

Airwaves Racing’s Smith took another podium behind team-mate Mat Jackson.