BASILDON-BASED British Touring Car Championship newcomers Team BKR made a great start to their maiden season by grabbing a podium.

Lead driver Aron Smith finished third in the second race and is fourth in the early standings after a trio of top 10 finishes in the opening three races on Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit.

Mark Howard finished further down the standings in the curtain-raiser at the Kent track but the team is still filled with optimism for 2016.

"I truly believe this could be an incredible year for Team BKR,” said Smith.

“I’m relishing the opportunity to hit the ground running with the car that came so close to winning the championship last year.”

Smith qualified in 10th place and Howard 31st in their VW Passat CCs, which came close to winning last year’s BTCC championship with Jason Plato and Colin Turkington.

Smith finished seventh in the first race, 3rd in the second and 8th in the third.

Howard, who stepped up to BTCC following two years in the Renault UK Clio Cup, was 23rd in race one and 27th in race two.

“I am truly excited to be joining the new BTCC, BKR team alongside Aron,” Howard said.

“Tt will be a big step up from Clio’s but with Aron as my team-mate I have a great opportunity to learn and most importantly have some fun!

“With us using the race-winning Passats who knows what where we will finish this year!”

Team BKR joined the BTCC grid after a huge effort by team manager Nico Ferrari, working close with Team BMR owner Warren Scott, to secure a deal to run the 2015 BTCC Passats.

BMR have run the Passat for the last three years and Ferrari hopes the partnership will bring success this season.

“We are extremely excited about joining the grid with the VW Passat CC's,” Ferrari said.

“Our new technical partner Team BMR will be incredibly helpful as the team get up to speed with these fantastic machines.”