Josh Files' challenge for the Renault Clio Cup title took a tumble when the Poringland racer struggled to gain the big points scoring places to maintain his title thrust.

'Bad qualifying was responsible for creating a really frustrating pair of races,' said Files, who was only 0.2sec off a front running qualifying lap time – but such is the closeness of the Clio Cup this year that the Vocalink backed driver would start both races from eighth place.

In race one Files made a good start but got caught up in a rival's accident which saw him hit a stray tyre stack in the middle of the track. However, he quickly recovered and had a race long battle with Jake Giddings over seventh place, which he stole on the final lap.

'He defended really well and it wasn't until the final lap when he made a mistake that I managed to get through, but it's a shame we got caught out by someone else's accident,' said Files.

Forced onto the grass at the opening corner of race two at Oulton Park, Files dropped to 11th place before gaining a position on lap two, which was as much progress the local racer could make.

'I then had the world's worst person to overtake in front of me. He was defending stupidly and we were losing over a second a lap to those in front,' said Files, who gained the extra points ofor the fastest race lap.

Carl Breeze consolidated second place in the Ginetta Supercup Championship at Oulton Park but slipped 17 points further behind series leader Tom Ingram.

For the King's Lynn racer the trip to Cheshire would be the first event this year when he hadn't taken a victory, having to settle for a pair of fourth places.

The Bluechip-supported racer started event one from third on the grid, but his TCR team-mate Mark Davies sneaked past at the first corner. As the race entered its closing stages Pepe Massot mounted a challenge on Breeze's fourth place and by cutting out the chicane he nosed ahead before handing back the position as per the regulations.

The Spaniard's next attack resulted in contact between the pair and ended Massot's challenge as broken steering sent him into the tyre wall.

Breeze couldn't rest as Jamie Orton, also running under the TCR banner, tried unsuccessfully to grab his team leaders position.

Race two produced a similar result but this time the local racer had the measure of Orton who was never quite close enough to mount a challenge on his fourth place.