It is unlikely that anyone left Croft Racing Circuit at the weekend with a bigger smile than Matt Allison as he not only stood on the Renault Clio Cup podium for the first time, when he won the opening race, but repeated the feat in race two.

'I'm really chuffed,' said the Norwich racer after his first success. 'We're just over halfway through my comeback season and this is my first podium and first win, and I'm very happy to triumph for the team but also my sponsors – Palletforce plc, The Alan Boswell Group and Motorcommerce.co.uk'.

The weekend started with the local driver claiming a pair of emphatic pole positions for the two races with his team mate in the newly set-up Scuderia Vittoria squad, Luke Wright, in second and third places.

A demon start to the opening race saw Allison with a big lead at the end of the first lap but the race was halted after Wright had smote the safety barriers hard exiting the fast chicane while Jack Goff and Adam Bonham also crashed in the tricky conditions.

Unfazed, Allison repeated his starting feat to lead the restarted race from start to finish.

'I had to sit there and stew for a few minutes at the red flag, but I knew I could get a buffer to the rest of the field early on,' remarked Allison afterwards.

Race two proved easier as Allison didn't have to make a second start and again led throughout with team mate Wright following him across the finishing line.

'That was easier than yesterday,' said Allison. 'Everything clicked this weekend and I'm really pleased to show we've got the pace in all the conditions the weather threw at us this weekend.

'I really concentrated on my start as I know from past events that they haven't been the best this year so far. I got off the line reasonably well, looked to the left of me and Chris Swanwick had made an excellent start but as I had the inside line I was able to defend going into the first corner.'

'After the first few laps the car felt great so I knew that I had the pace to keep my position and win the race. To win this second race and have my team mate Luke on the podium as well is such a great ending to the weekend.'

Poringland's Josh Files had an up and down weekend on his first visit to the Yorkshire track in the Renault Clio Cup.

In the opening race Files quickly powered into fifth place, which he turned into third on the fifth lap but only after what could be described as a robust pass on Mark Proctor, for which he was reprimanded by the stewards

The contact had left Files' car with bent steering, which led to him slipping down the order to eventually finish in 10th place.

In race two Files steadily worked his way into sixth place before more contact saw him slip back to finish 12th with broken steering.