BRITAIN'S youngest ever touring car racer Tom Boardman hit form with a bang at Silverstone yesterday with a pair of sparkling drives which brought him a third place and heartbreakingly close to a win.

The 17-year-old's performances were his best yet in the www.theAA.com MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Boardman, of Forton, went into rounds 21 and 22 of the UK's premier domestic motorsport series in good heart after his hard-working team found the solution to the long-term car problem which has blunted his attack in recent months.

"The car's working now, so I can do my job and get stuck in," he said after qualifying a fine seventh, his highest grid placing to date.

In the shorter Sprint Race, Boardman gradually worked his way up through the field in his Peugeot 306 GTi6 BTC Production car, showing his usual door-to-door racing ability and skill in traffic.

By the end he was a highly impressive third behind the far more experienced fellow Peugeot drivers Roger Moen and Simon Harrison.

"I'm shocked. My head's really tingling after that," admitted Boardman, who is the youngest BTCC driver to take to the podium.

"I do like racing with the front-runners," he continued. "They are much better drivers and you can really enjoy the racing."

And he enjoyed the majority of the longer Feature Race even more. Picking his way deftly through the usual torrid first lap incidents, Boardman emerged at the front of the pack and simply drove away from his rivals to establish a solid and comfortable lead.

"It was a golden opportunity, and I took it," said Boardman later, well aware that, despite the bitter disappointment of missing out on his first win, he has taken a big step forward both in terms of his own self-confidence and in the eyes of rivals and factory team bosses.