RORY BUTCHER enjoyed a "near-perfect weekend" after storming to a dominant double victory last weekend at Silverstone in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.

The 34-year-old Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver, alongside brother-in-law and three-time title winner Gordon Shedden, was at the iconic venue for rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the 2021 season and it proved to be the most remarkable weekend of his career in the series.

Butcher, whose dad, Derek, is the owner and CEO of Knockhill Racing Circuit, topped both free practice sessions, and qualifying, before going on to win the first two races on at Silverstone's short National Circuit.

His pole position for race one was his first behind the wheel of the Toyota Corolla and, even though he lost the lead initially to Tom Ingram, he regained the advantage in lap three before going to on take the chequered flag more than three seconds clear of his rival.

With 75kg of success ballast added to his car for race two, Butcher was leading by just over two seconds when the safety car was summoned to deal with an incident further down the order, but that didn't faze the Fifer as he held off a late attack from Josh Cook to register back-to-back triumphs and his third race victory of the season.

From 11th on a partially-reversed grid for the day's finale, and surrounded by a gaggle of much lighter rivals, the former BTCC Independents’ Champion and Jack Sears Trophy winner then capped his weekend with a 13th-place finish on maximum ballast to cement ‘top scorer’ status at Silverstone and rise to seventh in the standings with two events of the 2021 calendar remaining.

"I knew that on lap one I wasn’t going to get the lead. But it was nice to have the pace to get back onto Tom (Ingram’s) bumper and get past him," Butcher said.

"Things were tougher with a whole chunk of ballast on-board in race two but the team managed to get the Corolla into such a good window and I was amazed by how the car handled. I could obviously feel the extra weight but it didn’t actually hurt me that much, which is testament to the incredible job done by all the Speedworks boys and girls.

"They’ve given me such a fantastic car over the last few weekends and it was great to be able to reward them for everybody’s hard work. We just fine-tuned the car over the weekend – the car is just doing exactly what I want it to do.

"A quite special and near-perfect weekend. We’re not going to stop pushing. We’re going to keep trying to find more time from both me and the car."

While there was joy for Butcher, Shedden endured a tough weekend, retiring after 22 laps in race one after qualifying in 14th, before posting a 19th place in race two.

In the finale, he placed 21st, leaving him ninth in the championship standings on 165 points, 120 behind leader Ash Sutton, the same number that is left to play for over the final two race weekends.

Butcher has risen to seventh, with 187 points, ahead of the penultimate event at Donnington Park this weekend (October 9-10).