Ford drivers delighted after double win

The sprint race was a victory for Ford in every way imaginable, with the three Mondeo V6s crossing the line in the top three places. The Feature was a 1-3-4 for Ford, with the Honda of Gabriele Tarqini sneaking amongst the blue and yellow machines.

"This year's Mondeo is a very good car," confirmed Menu. "It has improved grip and a better engine than last year's and today's result puts us in a very strong position for the rest of the year.

"I am also very pleased for the team, as they have worked very hard to get a 1-2-3 finish," he added.

Rickard Rydell, Menu's team mate, occupied pole position for both races, but ceded the lead to Menu in both - in the Sprint, the Swede made a worse start than Menu, and in the Feature he was beaten on pit stop strategy.

"It's been a good day, but I would have liked to have won," said Rydell.

Echoing Menu's words on the quality of this year's Ford, Rydell added "The car felt excellent and we hardly made any changes to the car after the sprint race. We have made several improvements to the car since Brands Hatch though, and everyone at Ford is very pleased."

However, Tarquini's podium spot in the feature served to illustrate that perhaps the pendulum will swing against the Fords, but the Italian pointed out that the Mondeos were already carrying success ballast from the first round.

As Ford driver Anthony Reid pointed out, "Ford are making history again, as there's never been a 'works' 1-2-3 in the modern era of BTCC racing before."

Honda and Vauxhall will be eyeing that statistic warily.